Shayne Carter X New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Release Collaborative Record, REforms
Shayne Carter X New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Release Collaborative Record, REforms
November 25th, 2025
REforms, Shayne Carter’s long awaited collaborative record with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra finally sees the light of day.
As a bonus Crystalator Records is also releasing a digital only version of the Carter score for Home Land And Sea, a dance work performed earlier this year by the Royal New Zealand Ballet and New Zealand Dance Company.
The heft and glory of the NZSO collides with the Shayne Carter songbook. Ten tracks ‘reformed’ in orchestral technicolour that retain the integrity of the originals. Classics like ‘Randolph’s Going Home’ and ‘If I Were You’ spar with new songs like ‘Left To Defend’. Guitar and orchestra do battle on the mighty ‘Crystalator’. Songs from Carter’s solo Offsider album, composed in a mist of classical inspiration, expand from their original two finger piano primitivism into full scale epicness. Other’s glower in the drama of orchestral restraint.
With arrangements by Tane Upjohn Beatson and conducted by Hamish McKeich, REforms is far from being a Christmas record mish mash or lightweight ‘crossover’ album. REforms is a collection that becomes a singular artistic statement ; an art record from a world class orchestra and one of Aotearoa’s greatest songwriters.
REforms is available on vinyl online or at your favourite local indie record store, and digitally here.
Home Land And Sea, is a dance work by Moss Patterson (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) performed by the Royal New Zealand Ballet in a special collaboration with the New Zealand Dance Company. Its themes of place and identity are further explored in the original score composed and performed by Shayne Carter, with guests Al Fraser (taonga pūoro) and Andrew Thompson (violin/viola).
Released as an adjunct to the REforms album, ‘Music From Home Land And Sea’ is available digitally here.
“Shayne P Carter conjures a brilliant score to augment an earthy, restless, perpetually flowing and unfurling movement language”. (THE POST)
“He has created a richly evocative score with natural landscapes and Maori cultural references drawn in. His strong composition drives this highly successful collaboration”. (THEATREVIEW)
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Photo credit: Karen Inderbitzen Waller