Our Album of the Week is from Kiwi music icon Gin Wigmore. Known for her unmistakable, smoky vocals and fierce indie-pop-rock sensibilities, Wigmore has built a massive global following over the last two decades. Her unique blend of grit and soul has seen her tracks featured everywhere from Grey’s Anatomy to Orange Is the New Black. After a lengthy hiatus from the studio following her 2018 album Ivory, Wigmore spent the last several years living in the United States, navigating major life shifts—including marriage, motherhood, and a subsequent divorce. It is this turbulent, transformative decade that sets the stage for her triumphant return.
Beautiful Mess is Wigmore’s fourth studio album and her first new body of work in eight years. Written and recorded during a whirlwind, high-energy week in a remote Palm Springs desert studio alongside longtime collaborators Dave Goodison and Steven Padin, the record is a brilliant double-sided exploration of life’s dualities. Side A represents the “Beautiful,” offering tender, soft soundscapes deeply rooted in country and Americana storytelling, heavily inspired by trailblazing women like Lucinda Williams and Tammy Wynette. Side B reveals the “Mess,” ripping the album wide open with raw, raucous rock anthems driven by full-throttle energy and rock ‘n’ roll aftershocks. Singles like “Country Diamond” and “Tip Of My Tongue” capture the delicate balance between the vulnerability of personal growth and the sheer chaos of rebuilding one’s life.
The reception to Beautiful Mess has been nothing short of stellar, with critics and fans celebrating it as Wigmore’s most mature and confessional work to date. Review site Mystic Sons Chris Bound noted that the album “refuses to separate tenderness from fury, or survival from celebration”, praising the way her signature raw vocals anchor the sonic shift. AnalogueTrash heralded the record as a “wonderful triumph,”
highlighting how beautifully her smoky rock sensibility cohabits with a newly unlocked, honeyed country flavor. Meanwhile, Indie Boulevard Magazine pointed out the sheer artistic audacity of the project, calling it a bold, unpredictable return that “gets louder and stranger as it progresses.” Ultimately, the music community agrees that the album is a masterclass in creative bravery—a deeply relatable, beautifully executed reminder that the calm and the chaos of life can exist in perfect harmony.
New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our irregularly updated #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm. Listen on our website - https://www.nznetradio.net.nz/listen
