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 for a one-night-only performance that promises to blur the lines between concert, theatre and dreamscape.
Born Chelsea Nikkel, Princess Chelsea has spent more than a decade creating a world entirely her own, a strange, sumptuous collision of baroque pop, analogue electronics, classical piano and beautifully off-kilter songwriting. A classically trained pianist and former member of The Brunettes and Teen Wolf, she emerged as a solo artist with 2011’s Lil’ Golden Book, before finding cult status with the unforgettable “The Cigarette Duet”. Albums including The Great Cybernetic Depression, Aftertouch and Everything Is Going To Be Alright have since established her as one of New Zealand’s most singular and inventive pop artists.
But 7 Seconds In Heaven is set to strip things back while making the experience even more visually ambitious. Described by Chelsea as a “solo-ish” performance, the show will revolve around Omnichord and grand piano, accompanied by the live shadow puppetry of master puppeteer Tom Tuke. Together, they’ll transform the historic church into an ever-shifting, otherworldly landscape.
Chelsea’s regular collaborator Joshua Worthington-Church will add bass and guitar, while Joe Kaptein takes command of Kāhui St David’s immense, newly restored century-old pipe organ. The bill also features a special prepared-piano performance from Hermione Johnson, whose unconventional techniques involve placing objects such as wooden chopsticks and violin bows between the piano strings.
With new material from two forthcoming albums also promised, 7 Seconds In Heaven sounds like anything but a conventional gig. Expect grand piano, strange electronics, shadows, organs and songs that seem to exist somewhere just beyond reality. In Chelsea’s own words, it should be “a strange and beautiful evening”.
