CELEBRATING THE RELEASE OF • Country Justice • i.e. crazy
w/ special guests & support from HASJI
Saturday 22 July
8pm
Wine Cellar
Limited earlybird tickets $12
GA $15
Door sales $20
This show will be partially seated. The venue is wheelchair accessible. For wheelchair access please contact the venue or artist at franceslibeau@gmail.com.
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It’s been a few turbulent years since the emergence of the eponymous song Country Justice, the first in a string of i.e. crazy singles since 2017's Non Compos Mentis (Muzai). The cooked, dirgey lament of Country Justice delivered a sharp smattering of sonic collage framing a roving, imagistic narrative which dwells on the complex lattices of power and place in Aotearoa. It was followed by the brutal lovelorn balladry of As it Stands, the cool vehicular sheen of Weird Weather and the textural industrial-pop of latest single Wetlands - a new VHS video for which is unveiled today in a visual vocabulary reminiscent of 1990s picnics roaming Te Wai Ōrea (Western Springs).
Now firmly anchored in the soggy shores of their birthplace Tāmaki Makaurau, Libeau today announces the release of Country Justice in its entirety on 20 July 2023. The first full release since 2017’s Non Compos Mentis (Muzai), Country Justice synthesises neo-folk, industrial sonics & power balladry through exploratory modes of aural collage & narrative songwriting.Gathering shards of forgotten pop-culture detritus from dusty corners and behind long-closed curtains, Libeau turns the murder ballad inside out throughout the record, sifting through the complexities of gendered violence & its portrayal in the media.
Exploring multiplicities of sound and space as well as voice, Country Justice announces Libeau as a writer, producer and sound designer as well as songwriter, exploring the hauntological subtexts of colonial Aotearoa through repurposed sonic debris, field recordings and melodic hooks. Composed across cities as far apart as Leipzig and Ōtepoti, the album features a raft of creative collaborators, including theatre-maker Nisha Madhan, Cello Forrester (Womb, CRUSH), musician/DJ/artist Abigail Aroha Jensen, artist Imogen Taylor on flute, and the late artist Angus Zoë Tahere Hayes, who sadly died in 2022. The record was lovingly mixed and mastered by James Goldsmith.
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With support from HASJI
Hasji makes Urban Gorge - attempting to speak to the base rhythms and peace that are tucked away in the overstimulated structures of city lifestyles. Through this Hasji aims to promote sonic rongoā, cultivated thru an awareness of the relationship between ecological urgency and urban anxiety, and a continued kinship with our maunga of many forms.
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Certain elements of the i.e. crazy set explore the representation of gender-based violence in NZ's media & social imagination. There will be a couple of brief references to historic media narratives covering stories of gender-based violence & suicide that are, in some cases, specific to Aotearoa. They are not prolonged or (by our read) gratuitous & we hope serve to highlight issues that pervade this country's culture of violence, rather than exploit them.
Verbal and visual warning of this content will be given before the show commences. While we will do our best to guide you safely through the set, you are welcome to leave at anytime. A selection of contacts for crisis support services is listed at the end of this press release & will also be available at the door of the show. If you or someone you know would like assistance in contacting these services or getting home safely, please reach out either to the performer, the person at the door, or someone you trust.
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Safe to talk (24/7):
24/7 confidential helpline for survivors, support people and those with harmful sexual behaviour.
080044334
support@safetotalk.nz
Lifeline NZ (24/7)
24hour suicide crisis helpline
0508 TAUTOKO (0508 82 88 65)
24 hour helpline: 0800 543 354
Free text HELP (4357)
1737 (24/7)
24 hour text support line
Free text or call 1737
