River Said

The new album by Maxine Funke divides into two halves - the first side is a perfect suite of the kind of beautifully constructed songs that the New Zealand-based artist has become known for, acutely observed vignettes framing her voice with a minimal backing of guitar and organ.

The second side takes off on a different flight entirely: two dreamy long form pieces built on a framework of cello, field recordings and delay, closer to Arthur Russell or the music on Brian Eno’s Obscure label than the more folky references that often get applied to Maxine’s music.