Not many high schoolers can say they’ve performed alongside their musical heroes, but for Ōtepoti singer-songwriter Keira Wallace, this will soon be a reality. Critic Te Ārohi caught up with Keira about their music and exciting upcoming projects.
Of creating music, it was the songwriting that Keira was drawn to first. “Growing up, I always loved writing. I started a little writing club in primary school, we’d write every break and have a little prompt.” For Keira’s eleventh birthday, their mum gifted them with a guitar, starting their passion in music. “[They] just went hand in hand…I’d started writing original stuff as soon as I learned enough chords.” This year, Keira also started learning violin, a sound they hope they can bring into their music in the future.
Keira describes their sound as what would happen if you gave inanimate objects – like wool blankets, moss and tea cosies – brains and musical instruments, and made them play music. “In a less abstract sense, it’s like indie folk.” Keira’s songs are often woven with imagery of nature. “I like to keep my music quite abstract. I use themes of nature to reflect what's going on in my life and to help me process what's happening around me.” Keira likens their songwriting to therapy, grateful for it as an emotional form of processing, given that they consider themself to be quite logical day-to-day. “I'm quite introverted. I don't really cope by talking to other people about what's going on with me. So it's a great way to have that conversation with myself and actually, to reflect on it rather than putting it aside.”
A musician that inspires Keira is Phil Elverum, of American indie projects Mount Eerie and The Microphones fame. “He's so raw and authentic with his work. You can tell that he's not writing music with an audience in mind, it's purely to process his experiences and that really resonates with me.” In an absolute dream-like sequence of events, Mount Eerie is not only playing a show in Ōtepoti, but Keira is also opening.
It’s been a fruitful time for Keira. This year, they competed in the duos category of Otago Rockquest alongside a friend. The pair came first place, advancing into the national heats. In June, Keira was in Auckland recording a track at Parachute Studios with producer Abigail Knudson, who performs as MISSY. The song itself came out of Keira’s experience in Song Hubs Ōtepoti, a week of intensive songwriting with fellow artists, where each day sees a different artist lead an original songwriting session. “The day that I was the lead songwriter, we tackled quite a big topic for me. It was really cathartic finishing that day after seven hours straight of songwriting.” The track will be released later this year.
Keira is also performing at this year’s Amped, after partaking in the programme last year. They recommend the programme to other youth pursuing music, as well as to “drag your friends into learning instruments.” Though Keira often performs alongside musicians of a different age group, they’ve felt supported in the scene but would love to see more younger performers. “I don't feel hindered by it at all or discouraged, but I think I would feel a lot more safe and understood, if there were more younger artists like me.”
You can keep up to date with Keira on socials (@keirawallacemusic). You can catch Keira in a month’s time opening for Mount Eerie and Black Belt Eagle Scout at Dive on 29 September.