Folky valentines

Erny Belle confirms her early promise and Cat Power plugs and unplugs Dylan.

- GRAHAM REID

NOT YOUR CUPID by Erny Belle

Last year's Venus is Home album by singer-songwriter Erny Belle (Aimee Renata, Ngāpuhi) was an impressively crafted work which led to her being nominated for Taite prizes in the best independent album and best independent debut album categories.

Recorded in the summer of 2019, it was folk-pop with wistful Pacific-kissed songs (Island Time), a homely specificity (the local Four Square and warm cask wine at Nana Venus's place on the title track) and a serious purpose (Hell Hole, Chuck It In the Trash).

On the dreamy Nuclear Bomb, she married a delightful country melody with 21st-century nihilism: "I'm gonna go and smoke some P and put my baby in a washing machine and pray to God that a nuclear bomb's gonna kill me." 

Despite the bleak message about humankind - "bad habits run deep so it's all bound to fall down again" - the reckoning never sounded so inviting. And Covid hadn't even hit.