Wellington Music: The Eighth Note - Havening
Eight quick questions with Pо̄neke electronic artist, Havening
Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
Hi, I’m Bonnie O’Donnell, I make experimental electronic music under the moniker Havening. I’m from Nelson/Dunedin and moved to Wellington 13 years ago. I work from my Kāpiti home studio using Ableton, so sit at my computer crafting sounds and pushing buttons till it sounds cool to be honest. I try to get out of the way and let whatever wants to come out do its thing.
What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
After releasing Wavelengths Of Light in May, I decided to learn more/level up my skills for a bit. I’d like to get some hardware involved, incorporate more vocals and learn to take recordings from plants and crystals. I’ve been in more of a creative than studious mood though, so yes, there are a few songs made in the past few months that I love and will be released this year.
Where is the best place people can follow you; find your music?
Come hang out on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok if you want to connect/follow along my musical journey - I love meeting new people and supporting others. You can buy my albums on Bandcamp for $5. Or play on Spotify and Apple Music. Also Soundcloud has some old stuff and demos too.
What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
This album does something wild to my brain. His voice is obviously stunning, but the way the instrumentation dances in a beautiful whirlwind it’s like medicine for my being. Nujabes does the same - those magical jazzy hectic beats huh.
The slides… the tones… makes me so happy! This was the first electronic music I got into and the reversed samples made a big impact, especially ‘Lapland’.
Julee Cruise - Floating Into The Night
I mean doesn’t everyone have a formative David Lynch/Julee Cruise era?? This very nicely merged with my ‘art school student-Lykke Li-The Smiths’ era. You know the one - honey on burnt toast - I love some eerie uplifting melancholia.
Which other Wellington musician(s) would you most like to work with?
Qwazdyn makes such good IDM and Hominid makes beautiful experimental dance music - heaps of knowledge I’d love to tap into with both of them. Flip For Garth and I finally have a gap between personal projects to cook up some creations, he is open-minded to my eccentricities so no doubt it’ll get wacky pretty quick.
What’s your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
My house! Moody candle-lighting, always cosy, ginger tea, plus my 4yo daughter is the best audience I could dream for. ‘The Lounge’ has the best dance floor, but the ‘Jumping On Mummy’s Bed’ stage really gets the crowd going.
In your songwriting or composing (or the bands songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
I make drum sequences, build up melodies/sounds all over each other and chop up samples. I don’t do a lot of thinking about it; just whatever feels nice and sounds nice to my ears, then I expand on the things I like. That’s when the real work comes in - final composition and mix/ mastering. I like the complexity and problem-solving aspects of it all.
Where/when is your next gig?
Going deep into the Mangaone Walkway and quietly playing vol. 2 of 'Wavelengths Of Light' to the forest, that is pretty special. Probably on a wet weather weekday when there’s no-one else around!