The Beths have been awarded the 2023 Apra Silver Scroll for Expert in a Dying Field, the title track of the band’s second album. The Apra prize for a contemporary classical work has gone to Victoria Kelly for her acclaimed Requiem, her composition based on the poetry of Bill Manhire, Sam Hunt, Ian Wedde, Chloe Honum and James K Baxter.
It was the Beths’ fourth nomination for the country’s top songwriting award with this year’s contenders also including Marlon Williams, Avantdale Bowling Club, Tiny Ruins, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
“I really wanted one of these,” said Beths’ singer-guitarist Elisabeth Stokes as she was awarded the trophy in a video pre-recorded due to touring commitments. The Auckland band has been bouncing between the US, Europe and home since the album’s release a year ago.
“You never feel like you are going to win the Scroll, but I felt confident that’s the best shot we ever had,” said Stokes before her default self-deprecation took over. “Like maybe [’it’s ] the last shot. I’m really glad we won it. Who knows if we’ll write another good song?”
The winning song is typical Beths, a blend of harmonies, hooks, quiet-loud dynamics and Stokes’ reflective lyrics on a guitar-powered track. It may be the most uptempo winner in the 58-year history of the award which has often tended towards pensive ballads.
The awards had one of those as the winner of the te reo songwriting Apra Maioha Award – Me Pēhea Rā, a song by soul-voiced solo artist Mohi co-written by him, Hēmi Kelly, Amy Boroevich, and Noema Te Hau.
Victoria Kelly’s win of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award was possibly predictable, given its high-profile debut at the Auckland Arts Festival earlier this year and the names associated with it. Prominent opera singer Simon O’Neill performed in its debut performance and an earlier recorded te reo excerpt from it, He Taurere, was sung by Anika Moa.
Kelly is a past Apra winner for her soundtrack to the WWI drama Field Punishment No. 1.
This year’s two screen music awards also went to past recipients, both for works little seen at home.
Tom McLeod took the television series music prize for his music on Blood, Sex, & Royalty, a Netflix show that put a contemporary spin on the life of Anne Boleyn. Karl Sölve Steven, the former Supergroove frontman turned established screen composer won for his music to The Subtle Art of Not Giving a #@%!, the NZ-produced documentary of the self-help best-seller.