Come dancing

Albums from Anna Coddington and Peggy Gou are smart and sassy. Bonny Light Horseman leans on heartache.

- GRAHAM REID

TE WHAKAMIHA

by Anna Coddington

On an album where the title alludes to showing appreciation, respect or paying a compliment, the award-winning Anna Coddington opens with the joyful Kātuarehe, an overt tribute to Prince's sassy funk for the dance floor.

It sets exactly the right tone of wit, enjoyable indulgence and homage on an album that also nods to classic soul (the gentle-sounding-but-bitter Call Your Mother). It has a duet with Troy Kingi on the soul ballad Honey Back about a fractured relationship, and a rhythmically driving, assertive rap on Gainz with backing vocals from Julia Deans, Anika Moa and Hollie Smith: "Life's not a league, we livin' in the final, so run it straight, fix your face, put a smile on."

Tömina harks back to Philly soul, Mohou Rã goes to the 1980s for vibrant synth-pop and Te Taumata Ike places Coddington's engaging vocal over a moody guitar part, which is like early Cure before it fades beneath the dance-floor groove.