Molly and the Chromatics

Words by Hannah Powell.

Writer Hannah Powell had a chat with Molly Rowlandson, frontwoman of Auckland-based band Molly and the Chromatics. With their single ‘Hold Tight’ fresh on release, they talked music, women, and the upcoming album.

“We don’t try to sound like anything in particular, we just do what we like and what we’re feeling at the time,” Molly tells me, as we sit down together in a Wellington café. 

With a vibe of groove, jazz and a whole lot of soul, Molly and the Chromatics are dancing-shoes only. A six-person band with notes of sax, trumpet, and flute, they’re just getting started for summer. They’re a live act not to be missed. I ask what they’re up to at the moment. “We’re currently finishing off our album,” Molly says. And with new release ‘Hold Tight’ now out in the world, there’s much to be excited about. Having also released their powerful track ‘Goddess’ on July 31, both singles are a taste of what’s to come.

With ‘Goddess’ for “the women, our wāhine toa”, ‘Hold Tight’ is on a more socio-political matter. “It’s about the inter-general differences in opinions on how you should and could live your life,” Molly explains. With the verses about people wanting to live life as they like in a somewhat unconventional way, the choruses depict another group of people as saying, ‘hold tight, fake it, you’ll make it’. The track is essentially a break out of the white picket fence dream. On stage, “[it’s] a satirical conversation between myself and boomers,” Molly laughs. 

With Molly on vocals, percussion and flute, George on guitar, Tom on keys and synth bass, Matt on sax, Jack on trumpet and Ollie on drums, all are passionate about music, performing, and composing their sound. The band undoubtedly has a very special dynamic. “We have so much respect and love for each other, that creates a trust and flow in the music.” Their previous drummer, Sam Horgan, is now their manager. “We’re lucky to have him,” Molly says. “[He’s] making shit happen – which is what you need when you wanna go next level as a band.” 

Image taken by Kenzie Pigman.

As much as the band is equal and each member has their own performance style, Molly leads the pack. “I’m a frontwoman,” she says. “And because I’m the only female as well, that creates that dynamic naturally too.” 

I ask if she considers herself a feminist. “Yes, one hundred per cent, of course!” she says. 

“Over the last few years, I’ve been exploring my own feminist discourse…forming my own thoughts,” she explains, as we touch on ‘Goddess’’ empowering message. “[I’m] trying to think more of how I feel and how women are represented in society, but also in music.” 

“With ‘Goddess’, I feel very strongly about people being equal, and equality is something that is within me,” Molly says. “I love women and the connection that females have with each other – it’s special, and it’s unique.” A track once primarily a celebration of the amazing women in her life, Goddess has recently flowed into more meanings than one. As much as it is about incredible women, it also reflects how some people cannot see their inner-goddess within. It’s intended to encourage them to feel empowered in themselves. 

Molly’s advice? “The more you are authentically yourself, the more you’ll be able to access it and let it shine out of you,” she says. “It’s not always an easy thing to do… [for people] to be comfortable to just organically be themselves.”  

The song Goddess was initially composed with live instruments and has been developed remotely throughout the year during COVID into a more produced sound. When they recorded their first take of ‘Goddess’ earlier in the year, the vocals weren’t quite what they wanted. Then, after going through a break-up and a general 2020 rough patch, Molly decided to rerecord. By the second take, Molly thought, “I’m singing this for myself”. It was for her to turn around and look at herself and say, ‘yeah, I’m a goddess’. 

This, she tells me, is why she thinks it’s important “to walk the walk and talk the talk”. Not a fan of preaching, Molly tells me you can’t just walk around and say, ‘be authentic’ if you haven’t confronted your own shit and looked in the mirror yourself. 

Her mantra applies to feminism too. “We, as women and men, we were brought up in a patriarchal society. Of course, there are going to be innate and embedded beliefs – but we have to unlearn those.” Her philosophy is to approach it with kindness. “A sense of kindness to the unlearning,” she says. “Walking the walk and talking the talk is important… [but be] kind to yourself in the process.” 

As we chat a day before their Wellington show, Molly says how excited she is to be back at it on the stage. “My soul needs it,” she laughs. The last time the band performed was at festival Outfield during summer as part of a cluster of North Island shows and festy slots. This summer, they’ve got a spot at Taupo’s Le Currents, Bay Dreams North Island, and Riversounds Festival, along with shows with Mako Road at Coroglen and the Mount. The band will have a Hold Tight release show backed by Live Nation at Tuning Fork on December 11, with a bunch of other shows yet to be announced.

Their album is expected to be released early 2021, once the summer festivals wrap up. Molly goes to the studio every week to record vocals, with the band recording in their self-described “bitsy” way. Most of the lyrics were written last year when Molly was overseas. She describes her writing process as a brain-dump of sorts. “There’ll be something irking that I just need to get down – and then it just forms and idea”. 

The band went to Lake Tarawera earlier this year for a two-week writing workshop, where they wrote most of the album. Molly describes the overall feeling of the album as the present state of mind, capturing the time of when the words and music were written. She says it’s undoubtedly their sound, only more developed and experimental with produced sounds. 

With two of the band members in study, one a full-time musician, and one working at the museum, Molly says music is her main focus. With all members back at home due to COVID-19, “maybe it’s meant to be that we’re all back here and finishing off our album”. 

“Everything is supposed to happen as it happens,” Molly believes. “It’s maybe a bit woo-woo, but I do believe all will unfold as it should. Even if it’s tough, it’s got a way of working itself out.” Diagnosed with leukaemia when she was 20, she’s got a thought or two on life. She knows it’s important to do what you love and to have trust in yourself to pursue. 

Her long black sits empty on its saucer. “It’s not gonna happen if you don’t make it happen,” she says.