There are times when one hears a voice and it feels as if you are being held warm and safe, and that is definitely the case here with Whero who recently released her debut single. If she has not recorded under this name before, I am sure she must have recorded with others, while this has all the hallmarks of someone who has undertaken a lot of live work. I see she has sung with Troy Kingi in the past, and given he has the choice of who to work with that says a great deal. This is soul, and although it contains elements of other genres such as reggae and R&B, this is classic soul that could have been released any time within the last 30 years. The only reason I won’t place this against the classics of the Sixties and Seventies is the arrangement (and especially the bass) feels just that more modern.
This is not the famous Commodores song, but an original which was co-written with Kyla Greening and Sarai Kennerley, and with some wonderful electric piano and vocal harmonies, it always puts Whero front and centre. I can imagine this being a slow dance number at the end of the night, when there are only couples on the floor, moving in slow motion. This is quite some debut, and one can only wonder what is next. 8/10
