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Greta O’Leary:

Interview + ‘Year of the Dog’ 

At the beginning of winter this year, Tāmaki Makaurau artist Greta O’Leary released intriguing romp of a single “Year of the Dog.” And now, nearing the end of winter, we’re delighted to share our interview with her discussing the single, ahead of her Whammy show in Tāmaki this evening.

With a rhythm akin to a merry canter, “Year of the Dog” sets off on a seemingly nonchalant journey that somehow manages, quite masterfully, to touch on life, death, and everything in between.

Je Ne Comprends Pas
by Katie Brown

“The point of diving in a lake is not immediately to swim to the shore, but to be in the lake; to luxuriate in the sensation of water: you do not work the lake out; it is an experience beyond thought.”

— John Keats, Bright Star (2009)

If you are familiar with the utter delight that is French film Amélie (or Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain for the purists), you might recall the fabulous voyage of Amélie’s father’s garden gnome, prised secretly from his garden one night by Amélie Poulain herself, that worker of secret miracles. In the arms of Amélie’s flight attendant friend, the gnome travels around the world, his journey documented by Polaroid photos that Amélie’s father, Raphael Poulain, receives in the post.

Raphael is bewildered. First, his beloved gnome disappears, and then he reappears in photo format in the post. More, the gnome appears to be living the jet-setting and adventurous life Raphael, stoic, risk-averse, and preferring to keep his world small, controlled and therefore safe, could never be bold enough to live himself.

Je ne comprends pas,” he mutters. “Je ne COMPRENDS pas.”

I don’t understand.

Not understanding — it’s a familiar concept. Things happen. Life happens. It often unfolds in a manner that wasn’t what you were hoping for, or expecting: if you’re like me, years pass, and suddenly you realise that you’re nearly halfway through it with none of those little societal ‘achievement’ boxes checked off (quelle horreur!). If you’re also like me, through choice or not you might have had to let go of old systems and attachments you’d held close for a long time, and found, once you’ve reemerged from the fallout, that the New Thing was not yet there to reach for. You’re a boat adrift on the ocean in some sort of strange limbo: you’re in a liminal space.

And me-oh-my is it an uncomfortable space to be in.

Explore: Culture & Lifestyle


Explore: Books


Rachel Soo Thow of The Lit List reviews ‘What My Mother And I Don’t Talk About’, an essay collection edited by Michele Filgate.


Zachary Pryor reviews Sally Rooney’s ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You’.


Rachel Soo Thow of The Lit List reviews Sophia Hembeck’s ‘Things I Have Loved’.


Concert Review:

Blonde Redhead

Fascinating: it’s the best word I can think of to describe US-based act Blonde Redhead’s outstanding performance at Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland’s character-laden Hollywood Avondale venue on Saturday night. And I’m talking about fascination in the snake-charmer kind of sense: bewitching; beguiling. Ipnotizzante.

Explore: Playlists


Weekly & Monthly Playlists


Listen to The Every Journal’s weekly and monthly Spotify playlists: the Monday Mixtape (Aotearoa new releases), and the Monthly Mixtape (local & international new releases).

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