Christchurch-based artist Michal Bush has been connecting with her audience online way before ‘lockdown’ was a thing, with backup dancers, support acts and a growing fanbase all aged under five.
Michal Bush's new album Can You Make Music? is set for release on September 18. The album features both silly and meaningful tracks, with titles like 'Dinosaur Zoo', 'Brave', 'I Love Chocolate' and 'Peace'. All were written during the Covid-19 lockdown with the wellbeing of children and families in mind.
“Music is so good for mental health and to find respite in a world that can feel very heavy on the shoulders of parents,” she says. “My hope for this album is that it creates moments of lightness and comfort for children, showing them that the world can be a beautiful and creative place.”
Michal has long been passionate about creating music that supports the wellbeing of children and the adults that care for them. She created Music with Michal as a way to share her music online, via weekly live music sessions for children and caregivers to enjoy from their homes. As her fanbase grew, she established the Music with Michal Club, offering four music sessions every week, beaming into homes in New Zealand, Australia and beyond.
“The children I interact with, including my three daughters, are my songwriting partners. They’re always giving me fantastic song ideas,” Michal says. “I love the way children see the world and think as adults we can learn a lot from them – so I try and capture that in my songwriting.” Michal describes her music as “joyful but not grating” and is pleased when adults love it just as much as children. That's important to her - she believes sharing music can be a great bonding experience between a caregiver and a child, and singing relieves anxiety for adults too.
Michal writes a new song every few weeks and takes requests from her pint-sized fans. Her hits feature squawking seagulls, superheroes who stay home to save lives (Covid-19 inspired), hand washing (ditto) and a song called 'Kindness is Free', which circulated far and wide in the wake of the mosque attacks. Michal wrote the song to give parents a simple message to share with young children when they didn’t know what else to say. She was humbled by the response; the song has been viewed on YouTube more than 30,000 times and she has been sent videos of classrooms singing it.
Michal received an Arts Continuity Grant to help her make Can You Make Music? which helped pay for the album to be professionally produced by Christchurch duo Victoria and Andrew Knopp of The Response. Because the grant was awarded by Creative New Zealand during Level 4 lockdown, it was produced remotely from the artists’ homes. It was a unique experience. “I would create demo tracks, record my vocal takes and send any instrumental or arrangement ideas through to Andy and Vic,” Michal says. “They would then produce the track, playing and adding in bass, keys, guitar, ukulele and more.” Michal’s three girls also feature vocally throughout the album, as well as her husband Matt on some tracks.
Can You Make Music? will be available on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and other online platforms, and Michal will also perform the album live online to celebrate its release on September 18.