Gig Review: Ny Oh @ Festival of Lights, Pukekura Park, New Plymouth – 4/01/2026

LA-based multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Ny Oh (Naomi Ludlow) played a one-off show at New Plymouth’s TSB Festival of Lights, drawing a focused, quietly captivated crowd as dusk settled over the park.

From the first song, people passing through the gardens slowed, stopped, and stayed. There was a magnetic stillness about the way Ny Oh began – unhurried, attentive – inviting listeners in without any grand announcement.

Early on, she shared a story that set the tone. “I met a friend at a festival who said, You’ve never been to Taranaki? Now I can’t stop coming back.” It landed easily, genuine rather than throwaway, and summed up the feel of the evening: intimate, warm and unforced.

There’s an echo of Joni Mitchell and Stephen Stills in Ny Oh’s songwriting – a loose 70’s folk lineage – but it never drifts into nostalgia. The music feels contemporary, personal and grounded in craft. Her live set was mostly a stripped-back version of her latest album Wildwood, performed solo on guitar (using a range of tunings) and piano. For part of the set she was joined by US-based guitarist (and sweetheart ) JP, who’s playing added texture and colour without ever crowding the songs.

Ny Oh’s voice is what really sets her apart. After four years touring with Harry Styles as a backing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, she’s clearly honed her instrument – range, depth and control – yet it never feels showy. She slips easily between whispers, wordless vocables, conversational, almost spoken lines, then opens into a clear high soprano, all carried with a sense of freedom and play. There’s a buoyancy to her presence too: tuning guitars mid-song, cracking jokes, warming the audience and shaping the set with an ease that makes the craft almost invisible.

She opened with a brand-new song, Hollywood, played live for the first time. Built around an interesting tuning, it unfolded almost like a raga or a round, with repetitive, circling lyrics that felt playful and lightly hypnotic. Quirky, humorous and gently disarming, it immediately established a Ny Oh hallmark: the ability to sit right on the bridge between joyful sorrow and sorrowful joy, without leaning too hard in either direction.

Love For Two followed, introduced with a laugh as being from an album that took ten years to make – “not self-indulgent at all.” The song carried a lightly Latin feel, flowing easily into Super Duper Baby Love, which kept the mood buoyant. She then moved to piano for Marie, a tender song about her grandmother, featuring her mum on flute – a quietly beautiful moment that felt perfectly placed.

For me, Time was a set highlight. There was a childlike quality to it – simple on the surface, but deeply engaging – capturing the curiosity that runs through Wildwood. JP joined her for Aperture and Bloom, settling into a solid rhythmic pocket and allowing the songs space to float and breathe.

The set expanded again with Conduit and Garden of Eden, joined by local singer-songwriters Ngāneko, Liana Hart and Sam Egli, adding another dimension and a strong sense of place. Ny Oh returned solo for a piano encore, You Are, bringing the evening gently home.

As the colourful park lights were replaced by house lights across the lawn, the mood remained attentive and grounded. What lingered was Ny Oh’s self-effacing lightness – not taking herself too seriously, while so obviously dedicated and devoted to her craft. That balance of ease, warmth and precision quietly drew people in and held them there.

Photo Credit: Katie O’Neill