New Zealand Americana artist Gina Malcolm releases new single + announces her debut album
Leanne Malcolm has changed her tune in recent years. Known across New Zealand as a radio and television journalist and as the presenter of TV3’s Nightline in the 90s, she has had a radical shift in career since 2021.
Under her artist name Gina Malcolm (Leanne’s middle name) she’s been recording and releasing original music, fulfilling a dream that started in her 20s.
Continuing a prolific run of single releases, Gina recently released the pure alt-country and Americana sound of Travellin’ Heart, which received strong airplay on NZ and Australian radio and was featured on The International Americana Music Show. Produced by award-winning songwriter Matt Joe Gow, the song has an evocative and retro feel – reminiscent of Van Morrison with a classic Americana melancholy.
Now, along with the announcement of her debut album, First Rodeo, comes the lead-in single Blood Left.
The song, which Gina describes as “heavy, and packing a lot of attitude”, is about release, relief, loss, conflict, and toxic relationships. It is built around Matt’s beautiful guitar line that establishes the melancholic mood, the surrounding instruments creating a kind of brooding, dark alt-country noir.
“I love the ominous feel of it,” admits Gina. “I’d been playing Matt’s instrumental version over and over, trying to find the right words – then one day, after a bit of a gruelling month away from home dealing with loss and some serious life stuff, I went to a North Auckland beach to decompress and suddenly the words ‘It’s over, all dropped away…’ came to me.”
With lines in the song such as ‘feel like I caught your virus, I can’t hardly breathe, the mould spreading inside us, while I’m growing your seed,’ Gina even surprised herself lyrically. “Sometimes I wonder where the bile comes from, but all I know is that the writing process really helped me process my feelings at the time… and talking about being not OK was great! Repeating it in the studio was even more cathartic.”
“Humans need to say “I’m Not OK” more often!”
