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NGAIIRE
reschedules
Australia & New Zealand tour

Tickets are on-sale now!

+ New album ‘3’ is out now!

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Photo: Dan Segal

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Praise for NGAIIRE

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

“Yielding one of the year’s best records” – The Australian (Doug Wallen), ★★★★½

“The best voice in the country.” – triple j (Declan Byrne)

“Ngaiire makes great records, but has never made one as great as 3.” – Double J (Dan Condon)

“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)

“3 is divine in all senses…It’s an album that’s rich and textural; contains eons of history in its very framework but at the same time remains cutting and fresh.” – MTV (Jackson Langford)

“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 rescheduled her Australian & New Zealand 3 album tour. Originally due to kick off next month, the tour will now take place in January & February 2022, with her New Zealand leg being held in August 2022. The tour will see the Sydney-based, Papau New Guinean future-soul artist bring her renowned live show to audiences in Sydney, Byron Bay, Canberra, Melbourne, Castlemaine, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Auckland and Wellington.

All tickets previously purchased from authorised outlets remain valid for the rescheduled shows. Fans who are unable to attend the new dates can obtain a refund from their original point of purchase. Ngaiire’s live shows are ones not to be missed with Sydney Morning Herald describing her performances as a “neo-soul Wizard of Oz, her voice echoes around the upstairs of the Lansdowne Hotel like a spectral presence…” . Tickets are on-sale now HERE – see below for details.

Ngaiire has always been peculiar, but on her third studio album, titled 3, she embraces it. Released in August via Dot Dash Recordings / Remote Control Records, 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’.

Join Ngaiire on Double J all this month as she discusses 3 and the diverse influences of the PNG musical landscape as their Artist In Residence, sharing a treasure trove of music from ’90s Euro electro to Scandi rock, pop, folk, Pasifika choral singing, reggae, dancehall and much more. You can listen back to her first episode here and tune into Double J each Sunday from 3PM.

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NGAIIRE – 3
Upcoming Shows

Thursday 13 January – The Triffid, Brisbane – Tickets
Friday 14 January – The Northern, Byron Bay – Tickets
Thursday 20 January – Altar Bar, Hobart – Tickets
Friday 21 January – The Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne – Tickets
Saturday 22 January – Theatre Royal, Castlemaine – Tickets
Friday 28 January – City Recital Hall, Sydney – Tickets
Saturday 29 January – UC Hub, Canberra – Tickets
Thursday 3 February – The Rosemount Hotel, Perth –Tickets
Friday 4 February – The Gov, Adelaide – Tickets
Friday 26 August – Meow, Wellington – Tickets
Saturday 27 August – The Tuning Fork, Auckland – Tickets

**we understand that with the current state of changing health orders across borders, we may need to adapt and move events. In the case of changed dates all ticket holders will be notified directly and able to access refunds**

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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 fuck 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 fucking 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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NGAIIRE
3
Tracklisting

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

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Follow NGAIIRE
Website – Facebook – YouTube – Instagram

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AMNPLIFY – HG