Single Review: Tongue-Tied

Konarucchi is a multi-genre solo artist from a small town in New Zealand called Wainuiomata. He likes to experiment with many styles of music, without focusing on how they will fit together, because he believes that cohesion in music comes from the artist, rather than the genre.

Tongue-Tied is a conversation with Konarucchi‘s own ego. It opens with a deep and slow 6/8 groove and bursts outward with a luscious harmony. It reminds me of Boyz II Men as it descends down a chord sequence that moves through mournful to lightly plaintive and resolves with a sense of comfort that feels at home with the subject of navigating yourself through your moments of uncertainty.

During the chorus, there’s some kind of beautiful plinky-plonk noise that provides a lullaby-like quality to the self-soothing song lyrics. It continues over the harmony line the second time around and makes for a delicious combination together.

Towards the end of the song, a guitar solo rips through and there’s a teensy moment where the plinky-plonk sounds ultra- distorted. The guitar feels triumphant, like the protagonist has successfully reassured himself and is returning to the grind. It’s nicely reverbed in a way that makes me feel like I’m watching fireworks after a Power Rangers movie or swapped bodies back with my mum and made up with my boyfriend.

The song ends with a really affecting rendition of the chorus in a cappella harmony and the space it leaves just as it exits is the perfect amount of pause to let the notes soak in. It’s one of those songs that feels physically good to have listened to.

Tongue-Tied has a B-side, All the Love and Wonder, about Konarucchi watching his infant niece grow up over the lockdown period.

It starts out as a guitar and vocal song you might play for your niece after her nap, then transitions into a full band play by play of baby activities. All the Love and Wonder has the benefit of that slower pace lens most of us got a taste of through that first lockdown. It reminds me about some of the good times I got to enjoy out of that enforced break and how much more aware of the little moments I became. Truly, it is the rose-tinted lens I wish to remember the lockdown through.

The song fades out and once again leaves a very gentle wake on which to reflect on the feelings Konarucchi elicits with his music. It feels like meditating on a cloud for a few seconds after listening to these songs. Give it a try.