When creating Beautiful Collision, Bic Runga drew her inspiration from a
variety of sources. “Inspiration comes from weather,” she offers, “the
sky, clouds, a beautiful piece of fabric, a texture, the way light will catch
someone's face and make them look different for a second.”
On Beautiful Collision, Bic Runga taps the same songwriting and vocal magic
that made Drive, her debut album, the biggest selling album by a local artist in
New Zealand music history.
Born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand, of Chinese and Maori descent,
Bic, currently lives between Auckland (close to her parents and two sisters) and
wherever else in the world she needs to be.
Bic counts Neil Young, David Bowie, Ella Fitzgerald, the Mama's & the
Papa's, Yoko Ono, and Billie Holiday among her musical favorites. “Most of the
musicians who really blow me away are either dead or over 50,” she confesses.
“The first time music really spoke to me was when I first heard the Smiths
when I was 12.”
In early 1997, she recorded Drive, her debut album, over a two month period
with one engineer and a handful of musicians. She produced the record
herself.
Drive was released in new Zealand in 1997 and immediately established Bic as
a star going on to win several TUI Awards, including Album of the Year, Record
of the Year, Best Vocal Performance and Best Songwriter. She also took home the
coveted Silver Scroll Award for her songwriting.
Over the course of the next two years, Drive was released to great success
around the world with Bic touring relentlessly, promoting and performing,
sometimes alone with an acoustic guitar and sometimes with a band. Often unable
to return to her home on the other end of the world, Bic was based for long
periods in New York City.
While living in new York, Bic wrote several songs–including the
album's first single “Get Some Sleep”–which would later be recorded for
Beautiful Collision, for her second album. After returning to New Zealand in
1999, Bic composed the other songs for Beautiful Collision.
“I have faith in my own ability as a songwriter and a musician,” she
says, describing the process that resulted in her Beautiful Collision. “Time
was not an issue.”
In late 1999, she began recording Beautiful Collision. Relishing the freedoms
afforded by the digital format and once again self-producing, Bic moved between
studios in the USA and New Zealand, utilising the skills of many engineers and
many more musicians, recording in New York, Los Angeles, Auckland (including
Bic's home studio), Wellington and Christchurch.
“I worked with twelve different engineers,” adding with a laugh, “most
of whom are still speaking to me. I worked in eight different studios in five
different cities, carrying my hard drive around in a tool box.”
In February 2002, Bic brought her hard drive back to New York for the mixing
of the album by mix engineer Michael Brauer (Coldplay, New Radicals) at Quad
Studios. It is appropriate that the recording of “Gravity,” the last track
on Beautiful Collision, was only completed at Quad while Brauer was busy mixing
the other tracks.
“I played the piano, the drums and the guitar,” she says with
characteristic humor. “I wasn't much of a pianist, a drummer or a guitarist
before that, but it's been three years of trial and error.”
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and
multimedia computer files.
Personnel: Bic Runga (vocals, guitar, dobro, drums, samples); Milan Borich
(vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar); Dave Bobbyn (acoustic & electric
guitars); Tim Arnold (vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar); Neil Finn (vocals,
piano, Wurlitzer piano); John Hodgson (acoustic guitar); Geoff Maddock (electric
guitar); Danny Blume (tenor guitar); Bob Heinz (banjo, dobro); Alan Gregg (bass,
electric bass); Sebastian Steinberg (upright bass); Jay Foulkes (tambourine);
Joey Waronker (drums); Andy Morton (samples); Duncan Haynes.
2003 special edition has an extra CD that contains seven songs.
What the critics say…
Uncut (01/04, pp.84–7) – Ranked #32 in Uncut's “Albums Of The Year
2003” – “One of the year's most delicious surprises.”
Mojo (Publisher) (01/01/04, p.56) – Ranked #34 in Mojo's “The Best of
2003”
Mojo (Publisher) (10/03, p.116) – 4 stars out of 5 – “[A] stunningly
gorgeous second album…Once she hits the home straight, you wonder where
she's been all your life…”
Tracks Listing:
When I See You Smile
Get Some Sleep
Something Good
Precious Things
The Be All And End All
Election Night
Honest Goodbyes
She Left On A Monday
Beautiful Collision
Listening For The Weather
Counting The Days
Gravity (Night Will Close Us Down)