Album Review: Mental Notes Project

The Mental Notes Project began as a classroom inquiry at Hamilton East School led by Lachie Holt AKA Kaupapa Kid, to mark fifty years since the release of Split Enz’s debut, Mental Notes. The idea was to reimagine some of Split Enz’s songs with the assistance of Split Enz founding member Mike Chunn and some ex-Hamilton West School musicians. The project also involved students studying the band’s history and interviewing members such as Chunn, Noel Crombie, Emlyn Crowther, and Wally Wilkinson. What has come of this dive into the influential New Zealand band is a number of performances (and videos available on YouTube) that have now been produced professionally and pressed into a limited-edition vinyl album. What a brilliant idea!

The tracks on offer make one realize the enduring impact of Split Enz and how meaningful and rewarding the project is by connecting past with present. It also makes the listener appreciate how difficult and complex much of the catalogue of the band really is. I’m struck by how much like early Genesis the band sounded, but even that description doesn’t do justice to the intricacy of song writing on display. Despite some of their more well-known songs having a hectic energy the band has become known for, many of the tracks chosen here showcase the shifting key signatures and complicated song structures that made the band so fascinating. Some of these songs are more successful than others, but it’s hard to fault such a thoroughly successful initiative.

For the most part, the two singers on this record are Ziggy Hauraki and Madeline Kennedy, students from the school whose youthful (occasionally saccharine) voices lend a new interpretation to the songs. While the originals display a range of emotions from the melancholic to the manic to the confessional through a surreal collection of words that strike up odd imagery, these fresh voices (understandably) seem less personally connected to the lyrics, and more as if they are carefully performing a national anthem; which in a way, they are.

Year five and six students, known at Hamilton East School as rooms 12 and 13 (that’s nine to ten year olds) rehearsed the songs as a group, studied and also created a mural that was gifted to the band at Roundhead studios, where an impromptu jam with Neil Finn was also recorded with Ziggy and Madeline.

The vinyl is split into two sides, between the Studio Le Pond Mix versions of songs on the A side, and the B side offers raw mixes and two special tracks, one recorded when the students gifted the mural and recorded with Neil, and the final track is recording with Liam Finn.

Side A (the Studio Le Pond Mix side) begins with the epic Time For A Change (from Mental Notes). As per the original, the piano is emotionally charged and shifts in dynamics and key centres, creating an unsure and unusual sound to sing over. Ziggy’s youthful voice, occasionally breaking with intensity, sings in earnest tones: “I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a time for a change”. The band then enters after the introduction, with appropriately retro sounding production on the drums (almost Elton John thickness), and rich textures of organ take us out. The song is, by its own nature, uncertain and this suits the voice that tentatively joins in. A complex song for complex times?

Second track Sweet Dreams (not actually from their debut, but their sophomore Second Thoughts, and written entirely by Phil Judd) enters with dreamy acoustic guitar, and we first hear the soft and svelte voice of Madeline. Although the music is not as hectic as more upbeat, new-wave rockers, every Split Enz song has it’s zany twist and turns, but Madeline stays on track and on key. On “sweet dreams every once and a while” she is joined by Ziggy’s voice, and they harmonize sweetly. The noisy break is true to the original, the guitar blurting out with an unconventional tone, and as the song comes to a close, I am surprised at how jazzy the piano part is, part honky-tonk, part Chicago blues. Split Enz really were mixing some eclectic sounds back in 1976.

Third track I Hope I Never (actually from True Colours, their 5th album) features both voices and showcases not only the students’ dedication to the performance but also how complex the song is. You can hear the students striving for the notes and trying hard to stay in time with each other’s syllables. As the original oscillates from the mundane to the overly theatrical, so too can you hear the singers shift from one mood into another, especially on the line “happiness is back in style”. The singers are assisted by Sidney Mabbett and Nicky Mataiti on guitar.

Stranger Than Fiction (from the debut, but also re-recorded on their second album, Second Thoughts) makes use of all the students of room 12 and 13 with a few solo vocal performances (Bodene and Grace), but the song is mainly instrumental and performed wonderfully, especially the complex parts performed by guitarist Nicky Mataiti.

Side B features the raw mixes of Sweet Dreams, and I Hope I Never, which might sound a tad less professional, but by offering a variety of mixes perhaps some aspects of the recordings can be heard easier, but I personally preferred the Studio Le Pond mixes.

The third track on the B side is Sweet Dreams recorded live with Neil Finn at Roundhead studios when the students gifted their mural. The track is very casual, including Ziggy missing some of the lyrics at the beginning and even Neil stating (as he laughs) at the end that the song is reaching unknown parts too complex for him to recreate, but the effect is charming and personal. The decision to include it as part of the recordings seemed initially odd, but I think ultimately it was the right choice as the connection between one generation to another is what this is all about.

The closing bonus track is Cold Feet, a Liam Finn song featuring him, Mabbett on guitar, Mataiti on keyboard and Madeline on vocals. Oddly enough, it is one of the most successful stand-alone songs on the record, but much of this is due to the song being much more straight ahead than Split Enz pieces and the tune is more cohesive and easier for the students to contribute to. The accompanying video is very poignant too, as the students look to each other as they realize how good they sound together and the fact that Liam himself represents a missing generation between the two main ages characterized for the majority of the record. It’s a fitting and conclusive piece for the project.

Overall, this record is a taonga for many to enjoy. The project not only offers a connection between past and future but is a demonstration to the importance of mentorship. Kaupapa Kid has offered the students involved a once in a lifetime experience that celebrates the rich musical heritage of the country. Congratulations to Hamilton East School and Mr. Holt!