''Stolen Hill'' is the second studio album by New Zealand recording artist

Anika Moa Anika Rose Moa (born 21 May 1980) is a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter. Her debut album '' Thinking Room'', was released in September 2001, which reached number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and provided two T ...

, released on 1 August 2005 by Warner Music NZ. The album was certified gold and has sold over 7,500 copies.

Background

Anika Moa said that the album contrasts with her debut, ''

Thinking Room ''Thinking Room'' is the debut album by New Zealand Pop recording artist Anika Moa, released on 28 September 2001 by Warner, Atlantic Records. It reached number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and was certified double platinum selling over ...

''; "''Stolen Hill'' is not as over-produced; more sparse, more feeling, more family-like, more Māori, more me... tis just me growing up". The title track of the album relates to the poor treatment of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

during the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the ...

Promotion and reception

In September 2005, Moa announced twenty-two shows in a nationwide album tour in October that year, two months after the album's release. Grant Smithies of ''

The Sunday Star-Times The ''Sunday Star-Times'' is a New Zealand newspaper published each weekend in Auckland. It covers both national and international news, and is a member of the New Zealand Press Association and Newspaper Publishers Association of New Zealand. ...

'' gave ''Stolen Hill'' four stars, calling it "poignant and original", while Russell Baillie of ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspaper ...

'' gave it only three stars, criticising several songs' "unlikely marriage of style and subject," and called it an album of "oddball character." Nick Bollinger from '' New Zealand Listener'' said "''Stolen Hill'' finds Moa maturing and discovering her own sound, but it feels like a work in progress. Although full of charm and unmistakable in its locale, the styles Moa toys with sometimes appear borrowed; as if she is trying them on and still making up her mind which ones fit her best."

Track listing

All songs written by Anika Moa except "Wrestled with Your Angels" by Moa and Adam Peters. Source: Spotify.

Chart performance

The album debuted on the

New Zealand Albums Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

in August 2005 at number six. In the album's second week it was certified gold, selling over 7,500 albums. The album spent a total of eight weeks in the chart.

Personnel

– acoustic guitar,

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, kōauau,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Willy Scott – drums * Neil Watson –

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

* Stephanie Brown – Rhodes piano * Aaron Murphy – bass * Nick Gaffaney – drums (on "In the Morning") * Georgina Cooper –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

(on "Stolen Hill") * Dion Taylor – slide guitar (on "Loving You") *

Anna Coddington Anna Coddington (born 14 June 1981) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. She has released four albums. Her previous band 'Duchess', for whom Coddington was songwriter, singer and guitarist, also released a 6 track EP in 2005. In 2015, Coddington ...

–

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* Edmund McWilliams, Jr – production, backing vocals * Madelein Sami – backing vocals *

Bic Runga Briolette Kah Bic Runga (born 13 January 1976), recording as Bic Runga, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist pop artist. Her first three studio albums debuted at number one on the New Zealand Top 40 Album charts. Runga ...

– backing vocals :Source: CD liner

References

{{Authority control Anika Moa albums 2005 albums World music albums by New Zealand artists