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Arcus Way follows on from the success of Belladonna’s two EP’s; 2020’s Salty Dog and 2022’s Total Eclipse of my Brain. These first releases saw Wellington’s Bella Cook take her songwriting seriously for the first time during a stint living in Auckland, collaborating with producer Shannon Fowler on an impressive collection of upbeat, guitar driven, quirky indie-pop tunes.

The direction of Arcus Way is somewhat a diversion from the sound of her previous EP’s and reflects the turmoil of some dramatic events in Bellas life over the past few years. A huge catalyst for the change in musical style was the devastating house fire that saw Bella’s flat and all of her belongings go up in flames. Having lost everything this period saw Bella reach back to simplicity of writing with the acoustic guitar.

“It’s easy to over complicate creativity and after settling into my new house I was drawn to the simplicity of sitting with my guitar alone and writing. It gave me the room to rearrange the pieces of my life and put them back together. After losing all of my physical possessions I became very reflective about what it was that I wanted to hold onto. I think that creating songs and seeing ideas come to life felt like a reclamation of what I’d lost.”

Receiving an NZ On Air New Tracks grant for her song ‘Driving Home For Christmas’ set about the process of recording Arcus Way in earnest and it became the first single to be released from this batch of songs. Bella teamed up with Wellington producer and guitarist Chris Armour to take the helm producing and playing on the record, but the pair were keen to not let the core of the songs get lost in over the top production.

“I was listening to a lot of music from Elliott Smith that was recorded on four track tape machines. I found the simplicity got to the heart of the song much quicker. Chris and I let this intimate sounding approach lead our process. We wanted the final recordings to have a similar feeling to the demos in my room.”

As a teenager Bella was notorious for carrying around an old tape recorder to capture moments of inspiration for melodies or lyrics, so it’s fitting that the sound of Arcus Way see’s a return to her fascination with tape recorders and lo-fi recordings.

Having previously mostly recorded in Auckland, Bella consciously wanted to make a very Wellington based record. Arcus Way draws on a stable of local talent with backing vocals from Dianne Kreig (Dawn Diver, Ida Lune) Keys from Dayle Jellyman (Floating Head) and Drums from Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa (Dateline, French For Rabbits). It was fittingly recorded in various studios and bedrooms around Wellington and has been mixed and mastered by local legend Bevan Smith (The Beths, Glass Vaults, Signer).

Arcus Way will be released on Bandcamp and all major streaming platforms internationally on November 28th.

Alongside the album Bella has taught herself how to screenprint and made up a batch of T-Shirts, hand printed onto shirts she found in opshops! The logo is super cute, but even cuter is the sustainable approach to producing merch! Available to purchase now from depop.

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Bella Cook, best known under the moniker Belladonna, has already earned critical praise for her first two EPs and in 2020 landed a Top 20 spot in the APRA Silver Scrolls for her single ‘Hands’. As a child, Bella was drawn to creative pursuits, focused mostly on writing short stories, photography, and performing for her unwitting family audience at any opportunity. Songwriting emerged unexpectedly when a primary school classmate shared an original song. Her curiosity led her to write her own, and though she hadn’t planned to pursue music seriously, she was captivated by its storytelling potential. By the end of high school, she had begun lugging a tape recorder around capturing snippets of melodies and frank observations on daily life.

Over the past couple of years, Bella has been hunkered down in various studios around Wellington with producer Chris Armour (Miles Caulder), building a debut album that expands her sonic world while staying grounded in story-driven lyricism. The process hasn’t been easy; juggling recording with full-time study and work, plus dealing with a house fire, a studio flood, and the heartbreak along the way. But the past few years have left Bella with a deep pool of inspiration to draw from. With this upcoming release we can expect to hear from a more somber, heartfelt side of Belladonna. Songs written mostly around an acoustic guitar and an endeavour to capture the intimacy of her home demos while staying true to the offbeat charm that’s made her one to watch

Photo credit: Frances Carter