Messed!Up
Princess Chelsea is about to turn one of Auckland’s most atmospheric new music spaces into something altogether more surreal. On Friday 25 September, the acclaimed Aotearoa artist brings 7 Seconds In Heaven to Kāhui St David’s – a one-night-only performance created with master shadow puppeteer Tom Tuke.
Born Chelsea Nikkel, Princess Chelsea has spent more than a decade building a singular world of baroque pop, analogue electronics and beautifully strange songwriting. A classically trained pianist and former member of The Brunettes and Teen Wolf, she first emerged as a solo artist with 2011’s Lil’ Golden Book. Her breakthrough came with the cult hit “The Cigarette Duet”, while subsequent albums including The Great Cybernetic Depression, Aftertouch and Everything Is Going To Be Alright have cemented her reputation as one of New Zealand’s most inventive and distinctive pop artists.
But 7 Seconds In Heaven promises something more intimate – and considerably stranger. Described by Chelsea as a “solo-ish” set, the show will centre on Omnichord and grand piano, with Tuke’s live shadow puppetry transforming the historic church into an otherworldly visual landscape. Regular collaborator Joshua Worthington-Church will add bass and guitar, while Joe Kaptein takes over Kāhui St David’s immense, newly restored century-old pipe organ.
The evening also features a very special prepared-piano performance by Hermione Johnson, whose unconventional approach uses objects including wooden chopsticks and violin bows between the piano strings.
With new material from two forthcoming albums also promised, 7 Seconds In Heaven looks set to be less a conventional gig than a strange, beautiful trip somewhere between concert, theatre and dreamscape. As Chelsea puts it: “It should be a strange and beautiful evening.”
