Single/Video Review: To Ihu

There are times when one is sent a song which oozes class from every pore, and that is exactly what we have here in one of the most delicious and delightful jazz numbers I have ever come across. Goldsmith Baynes is a musical partnership between singer Allana Goldsmith and pianist Mark Baynes, but in this number they bring it out to a full band with Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa (drums), Alex Griffith (electric bass), Cameron Allen (saxophones), Jono Tan (trombone) and Mike Booth (trumpet and horn arrangement). Right from the off, one is taken by the sheer bounce and groove from the piano, which is quite repetitive, allowing Allana plenty of room to throw her voice around while also providing a platform for some wonderfully muted trumpet. It is a sound not used enough to my mind, and here it helps in throwing us back in time and if someone had told me this had been recorded back in the Sixties the only thing I would have queried would have been the production which is certainly very modern.

There is an obvious very strong musical relationship between Goldsmith and Baynes, as there are times when they are tied completely together with Baynes following her down the scales, but at others she has the freedom to really throw her voice, and we even get some scat here and there. Most of the lyrics are in Te Reo, which for a non-speaker such as myself allows me to concentrate on the voice as an instrument in its own right. ‘To Ihu’ translates to ‘butt out’, an idiom to tell someone not to interfere, and there is a sense of humour and joy within this which is carried through into the video.

Here we find Goldsmith and Baynes in a caravan, with Baynes on the piano while Goldsmith tries to get through to someone using a rotary dial phone. We see them swapping places, there are changes in the background etc, and somehow the video perfectly captures what is taking place in the song, and at the very end there is no doubt that the smile from Allana is totally genuine. The final line of the song is “Do you really want to know? Cause in the end you pay the man and then you die” and the music stops with both staring at the camera. Each time I play this I love it a little more, and hope the album is not too far away. Until then I can see me playing this on repeat as this is one of the best jazz numbers I have heard in a long time.