Stolen Hill

Stolen Hill
Studio album by Anika Moa
Released	1 August 2005
Recorded	Bethells Beach
Genre	Pop
Length	46:15
Label	Warner Music NZ
Producer	Edmund McWilliams, Jr, Anika Moa
Anika Moa chronology
Thinking Room (2001) Stolen Hill (2005) In Swings The Tide (2007)

Stolen Hill is the second studio album by New Zealand recording artist Anika Moa, it was 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; "Stolen Hill is not as over-produced; more sparse, more feeling, more family-like, more Māori, more me...[it] is just me growing up".^[1]

The title track of the album relates to the poor treatment of Māori during the New Zealand land wars.^[1]

Promotion and reception

In September 2005, Moa announced twenty-two shows in a nationwide album tour in October that year, two months after the albums's release.^[2]

Grant Smithies of The Sunday Star-Times gave Stolen Hill four stars, calling it "poignant and original",^[2] while Russell Baillie of The New Zealand Herald gave it only three stars, criticising several songs' "unlikely marriage of style and subject," and called it an album of "oddball character."^[3] 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."^[4]

Track listing

1. "Ka Whakahuia Ano" – 1:51
2. "In the Morning" – 4:17
3. "Lies in This Land" – 4:32
4. "Picture Me in the 70's" – 3:48
5. "Stolen Hill" – 4:39
6. "Broken Man" – 3:03
7. "Loving You" – 5:07
8. "Annie Goes to Sleep" – 5:16
9. "Wrestled With Your Angels" – 4:36
10. "Society" – 3:48
11. "Papercuts" – 4:18
12. "Kotahitanga" – 1:00

Chart performance

The album debuted on the New Zealand Albums Chart in August 2005 at number six. In the album's second week it was certified gold, selling over 7,500 albums.^[5] The album spent a total of eight weeks in the chart.^[6]

Personnel

Anika Moa – acoustic guitar, harmonies, percussion, kōauau, production vocals Willy Scott – drums Neil Watson – electric guitar Stephanie Brown – Rhodes piano Aaron Murphy – bass Nick Gaffaney – drums (on "In the Morning")

Georgina Cooper – cello (on "Stolen Hill") Dion Taylor – slide guitar (on "Loving You") Anna Coddington – backing vocals Edmund McWilliams, Jr – production, backing vocals Madelein Sami – backing vocals Bic Runga – backing vocals

Source: CD liner^[7]

References

1. Kara, Scott (16 July 2005). "Anika Moa finds room to think". The New Zealand Herald (APN News & Media). Retrieved 23 November 2010.
2. "Anika Moa National Tour This October" (Press release). Anika Moa. 13 September 2005. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
3. Baillie, Russell (30 July 2005). "Anika Moa: Stolen Hill". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
4. Bollinger, Nick (13–19 August 2005). "Jewel of denial". New Zealand Listener 199 (3405). Archived from the original on 16 July 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
5. "Top 40 Albums Chart (#1473)". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. 15 August 2005. Retrieved 20 August 2010.
6. "Anika Moa – Stolen Hill". Hung Medien. charts.org.nz. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
7. Stolen Hill (CD liner). Anika Moa. New Zealand: EMI. 2005.