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NGAIIRE
releases new album
‘3’
Out Today!

Australia and NZ tour dates on sale now!

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Photo: Dan Segal

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Praise for
NGAIIRE

Double J – Feature Album
FBi Radio – Album Of The Week
Radio Adelaide – Feature Album

“The best voice in the country.” – Triple J (Declan Byrne)

“Radiant and rich… Tying electronic pop with older traditions, Ngaiire’s new release is bright, alive and soulful, reaching back to her roots as it looks to the future” – The Guardian (Shaad D’Souza)

“At once grounded and ethereal, Ngaiire’s third album slips listeners under its silken wing by way of seductive beats, inescapable melodies, and a wealth of stories delivered in the inimitable vocal of one of our undeniable national treasures.” – STACK (Zoë Radas)

“Ngaiire has regularly dug deep in her music, but it seems that the experience of creating her latest record 3 has seen her delve particularly deep into discovering who she is… It’s a record with a profound backstory and, knowing Ngaiire, the weight of her experiences will benefit her writing and performances hugely.” – Double J (Dan Condon)

“The Papua New Guinea-born artist will no longer tone herself down for the comfort of others – a decision that’s defined her multifaceted new album, ‘3’” – NME (Madi Howarth)

“Ngaiire’s impassioned vocals seem to make the ultimate plea, with harmonies bounding over sparse piano-led production.” – The Fader (Him) (Sajae Elder)

“Like some kind of neo-soul Wizard of Oz, her voice echoes around the upstairs of the Lansdowne Hotel like a spectral presence…” – Sydney Morning Herald (James Jennings)

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Ngaiire has always been peculiar, but on her third studio album, titled ‘3’, she embraces it. Released today via Dot Dash Recordings, the project memorialises the differences that have hindered and propelled the Papua New Guinean R&B/Soul artist.

“This album is about me letting go and accepting that not everyone is gonna get me,” says Ngaiire. “So here it is. 3. A perfectly acceptable odd number, just like me —a bit odd. I’m definitely not your normal cup of tea and as much as I’ve tried to pour myself into that teacup over the years, I’ve accepted that I’m really better suited to a brilliantly well-charcoaled aluminum kettle, full of black tea leaves cooked on a very lived-in fire, built upon the soil that smells like my mother, my Aine, my Pupu and those that came before who said ‘reach for the stars but always come back to us.”

‘3’ was first conceptualised when Ngaiire returned to Papua New Guinea in 2017 with a small creative team to extract unique visual aspects of her culture to present in a contemporary context alongside her music. But what began as an art-driven, anthropological project became Ngaiire’s own hero’s journey. In a recent interview with NME, she spoke candidly about the challenges she’s endured and reflected on her refusal to tone herself down for the comfort of others., Ngaiire demonstrates this emboldened approach on the sexually charged single ‘Closer’ and on the deeply personal ‘Him’, in which “her impassioned vocals seem to make the ultimate plea.” (The FADER) With the addition of colourful, anthemic numbers like ‘Takeover’ and ‘Shoestring’, ‘3’ is a celebration of what defines Ngaiire. The 10-track album is produced by Ngaiire’s longtime collaborator Jack Grace and it includes other previously released singles, ‘Boom’, and ‘Shiver’.

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Ngaiire has defied extraordinary odds and on her latest album ‘3’, she is her own biggest inspiration. “I am full to the brim of stories that many don’t have the privilege to hold within themselves; some I know  quite well and some live deep in my DNA that I won’t have enough lifetimes to unpack,” Ngaiire shares. “But the ones I know, I will tell how I want to because I can. So here is a collection of love letters to 3 entities – myself, my country and those I love both here and now departed.” Born in Lae, Papua New Guinea and later finding refuge in New Zealand before moving to Australia when her family was displaced from a 1994 volcanic eruption in Rabaul, Ngaiire returned home to begin working on what is now ‘3’.  The end result is a product of Ngaiire’s self-realisation that serves as her most fully realised body of work to date. With her identity often misconstrued, whether it’s wrongly labelling her Australian-aboriginal or categorising her sound as world music, Ngaiire is taking control of her narrative. Read her powerful artist statement in full below.

The album is her third full-length, following her debut ‘Lamentations and Blastoma’, which was nominated for Best Independent Album at the Australian Independent Record Awards in 2017. Ngaiire is a four-time winner at Australia’s National Live Music Awards, winner of FBi Radio’s SMAC Award for Best Live Act, five-time nominee for the Australian Women in Music Awards and was nominated for Artist of the Year at the J Awards, presented by Triple J & Double J. Alongside the countless accolades, Ngaiire has graced the stages of Glastonbury through to Splendour In The Grass, and has toured alongside artists from Sufjan Stevens to Flume to Alicia Keys and John Legend. Marking her long-awaited return with ‘3’, Ngaiire is ready to transform the music landscape with her unique voice and story.

‘3’ will be released on green vinyl and black vinyl on Friday 17 September and is available on all digital platforms now. Stream / pre-order HERE.

To celebrate the release, Ngaiire has announced a 10-date Australia & New Zealand headline tour where she will bring her renowned live show to audiences in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Castlemaine, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Auckland and Wellington – kicking off Friday 5 November.

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Upcoming Shows

Friday 5 November – Altar Bar, Hobart – Tickets
Saturday 6 November – The Croxton, Melbourne – Tickets
Sunday 7 November – Theatre Royal, Castlemaine – Tickets
Friday 12 November – City Recital Hall, Sydney – Tickets
Thursday 18 November – The Gov, Adelaide – Tickets
Friday 19 November – The Rosemount Hotel, Perth – Tickets
Thursday 25 November – The Tuning Fork, Auckland – Tickets
Friday 26 November – Meow, Wellington – Tickets
Saturday 4 December – UC Hub, Canberra – Tickets
Thursday 13 January – The Triffid, Brisbane – Tickets

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‘3’
Track listing

1. 3
2. Shiver
3. Shoestring
4. Closer
5. Takeover
6. Moonshine
7. Akura
8. Him
9. Boom
10. Glitter

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NGAIIRE ‘3’ 
A Mission Statement

‘3’ began as an experiment in 2017 to go back to my home country with a small creative team in the hopes of extracting unique visual aspects of my culture to present in a contemporary context and alongside music that would be composed throughout and after the research period. Working in reverse without having any music yet was a head f*** to say the least and I really discovered muscles that I didn’t know existed within my creative body.

Initially, I’d gone into the experience feeling pretty excited for what I considered my first big art project. The project was meant to deconstruct people’s misconceptions of what a Papua New Guinean is because of how I constantly had to field useless enquiries from white people who wanted to know if we all still ate people or why I was so pretty for a Papua New Guinean. What I didn’t fully realise was how callous I’d gotten from trying to maintain a career as a Warabung, Morobe, Tolai, Niu Ailan post-colonial Papua New Guinean in a predominantly white space that operates on stolen indigenous land. Quite immediately this whole experience ended up being a very expensive therapy session on the damages code-switching can create for women of colour when trying to survive in spaces that don’t understand where you come from.

The world has changed remarkably and in some senses very fast since we started this journey 3 years ago. We are now in a pandemic, black lives matter has thrown us into a revolution, I had a kid and nearly died doing it, my producer and co-writer Jack Grace moved to Paris, got engaged and is now stranded in France because of COVID, whilst my plans to move back to PNG in March were also halted. Now after finishing the musical component of  ‘3’, all I can say is that I don’t feel like I have to prove anything to anyone anymore. This album is about me letting go and accepting that not everyone is gonna get me. I don’t even want to be easily figured out anyway because being a multi-faceted woman of colour is perfectly acceptable even if it causes people to shift uncomfortably in their seats. For hundreds of years, we have been viewed through the legacy of white history and though this has plagued my entire career, it doesn’t make me.

So here it is. ‘3’. A perfectly acceptable odd number, just like me – a bit odd. A bit queer. Thinks she’s a bit cool but really just a big nerd. As slow and breezy as a New Islander but also as stubborn and passionate as a Highlander. A bit Australian but also a bit kiwi. A bit short and a bit not the right kind of black to be commercial enough. A bit full of joy but also a bit angry. A bit privileged but also a but disadvantaged. A bit past the used by date according to industry standards because she had a baby but fuck it, I’d like to see you pull a human out of your dick whilst creating an album. A bit obsessed with death, sex, life, spirits, fashion, expensive cocktails, art, board games, rice and bully beef, sitting on the beach all day and living beyond my means. And definitely not your normal cup of tea out of a f****** dainty little English teacup. As much as I’ve tried to pour myself into that teacup over the years, I’ve accepted that I’m really better suited to a brilliantly well-charcoaled aluminium kettle full of black tea leaves cooked on a very lived-in fire built upon the soil that smells like my mother, my Aine, my Pupu and those that came before who said ‘reach for the stars but always come back to us’.

I am full to the brim of stories that many don’t have the privilege to hold within themselves; some I know quite well and some live deep in my DNA that I won’t have enough lifetimes to unpack. But the ones I know, I will tell how I want to because I can. So here is a collection of love letters to ‘3’ entities – myself, my country and those I love both here and now departed.

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Follow NGAIIRE
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AMNPLIFY – LF