Taken from “The Caravan Recordings I” by Great North, out May 11th via Son Canciones.
In the label’s words: “”The Caravan Recordings I” by Great North is the first in a series of recordings. We turned an old caravan into the control room of a recording studio. We will look for unique places with unique acoustics, fill it with old microphones, park the caravan next to it and record our favorite artists accompanied by a duo of strings. First up is Great North, one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed indie-folk bands. The album was recorded in an old mill in a little Belgian village in the early winter of 2017.”
Great North play folk music with a bit of Bruce Springsteen-inspired Americana thrown in. Over the last eight years, they’ve cemented themselves as one of New Zealand’s hardest-working and most accomplished independent acts, playing gigs in bars, halls and tin sheds from Auckland to Okarito. Between shows, they released three albums, two of which – “Halves” and “Up In Smoke” – won Folk Album of the Year at the New Zealand Music Awards.
The band, which is centred around husband-and-wife duo Hayden and Rachel Donnell, recently relocated to the Northern Hemisphere in search of larger sheds in which to perform. Their live show is filled with the usual stuff: regret, nostalgia, faith, and love – all set to harmony and harmonica.