Moa of Anika

EASY ON THE EAR: Anika Moa is currently on her longest tour to date.

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Currently on her longest tour to date, we are going to be seeing Moa of Anika.

Anika Moa is spreading her new love songs with her trademark cheekiness throughout small-town New Zealand on her Aroha tour.

As well as shows such as last night's one in Akaroa, Moa plays Granity, Ranfurly, Raglan and even Stewart Island.

"I've just bought a Fender Telecaster - electric guitars are fun. I've got heaps of new songs and new towns to play them in," Moa laughs. "Basically I've been writing pure pop songs, they're easy on the ear. There's stuff you can dance to, indie to . . . I'll be playing my old songs too."

Now based in Orewa or, as Moa calls it "God's waiting pen", she's looking forward to visiting family in Christchurch as part of the tour, but mostly she's just happy to be back on the road.

Moa always impresses me with her performances. I watched her backstage at the recent I Love the Islands fundraiser for Samoa, her trademark bare feet wandering around the concreted floors as she laughed loudly.

She's a natural performer and as a songwriter she is in a league of her own. Her charming songs offer frank musings about love and life, sung with the raw emotion that inspired them.

She stole the show at the New Zealand Music Awards this year, chastising the "skinny bitches" on stage with her and cracking off-the-cuff jokes.

It seems difficult to believe that this easygoing songstress struggles with anything.

"I do, I have had terrible writer's block. It was like I went numb. There was two years there where I couldn't write a thing."

The Aroha tour sees Moa on the road for three months, accompanied by good friend, and support for the shows, Julia Deans (Fur Patrol) and with a small band, including bass player Chip Matthews (Opensouls) and drummer Nick Gaffaney (ex Goldenhorse/Cairo Knife Fight).

The Aroha tour ends on December 5 and on December 7 Moa plans to head back into the studio. She plans to release her fourth album in March.

Always glad to be playing her hometown of Christchurch, she's particularly pleased to be playing her old haunt, the Dux.

Aroha Tour

South Island, tickets $30 plus booking fee sold locally: Tonight at Ranfurly Town Hall; Saturday at Red Rock Bar and Cafe at Wanaka; Wednesday, November 4 at Lyric Theatre, Granity; Thursday, November 5 at Railway Hotel, Greymouth; Friday, November 6 at Dux de Lux, Queenstown; Saturday, November 7 at Fiordland Events Centre, Te Anau; Wednesday, November 11 at Dux de Lux, Christchurch, tickets from Real Groovy; Thursday, November 12 at the Penguin Club, Oamaru; Friday, November 13 at Heartland Hotel, Gore; Saturday, November 14 at Stewart Island Community Centre, door sales.

- © Fairfax NZ News