Performing under the name alayna, Rotorua-born Alayna Powley writes and sings about feelings, delivering her songs with a soft confidence that commands the respect of close attention. She attended the BIGSOUND 2024 music industry showcase in Brisbane (September 3-6) and kindly provided NZM with this similarly considered report on the experience.

It’s been a dream of mine to play a show in Australia for a very long time, and after applying for a few years for different showcase festivals, I was elated to be selected to be a part of BIGSOUND, staged over four days in Brisbane in September. My initial understanding of these kinds of festival showcases was that it is seemingly like an ‘audition’. You are performing your best work in the most effective, succinct way, to give yourself the best shot at the right person seeing you. 

What I loved about Bigsound’s set up is that there was a lot of information and support for artists leading up to the week. We were asked what our main intention was for Bigsound and what ideal outcomes we were wanting. I was hoping to connect with potential publishers and booking agents. With this in mind, I really wanted to focus on my live show being effective, as well as on my songwriting ability. 

Selecting songs for the 30-minute set was honestly quite difficult. It wasn’t lost on me when going through the songs that five years ago I would struggle to fill a half hour live set with my original music, but now two EPs and an album later, it was more of a struggle to pick so few songs. 

Sitting with my guitarist and collaborator of eight years, Noema Te Hau, we went through all the songs I thought would work well and workshopped the best flow of the set. I always want to take the listener on a journey and tell my stories in a way that makes each song fit the puzzle piece, and we created a set that took the listener through the evolution of me and my music, selecting songs from the different ‘eras’ of the eight years of my music releasing career.

It costs a lot to put on a show, let alone travel to another country, so I could only afford to bring Noema with me. In an ideal world I would have taken my whole band, but I also know I’m confident as a duo, and I love putting on an intimate and stripped back show to let the songwriting and vocals shine. I’ve been lucky enough to have the incredible Cherie Mathieson join my team recently, and she sat in with us for a rehearsal to workshop the songs, particularly my delivery. It’s been a long time since I’ve really focused on some of my vocal performances, especially when there are songs that feel like familiar furniture. It allowed me to approach them in a new light and appreciation, and ensure I was performing them as they were intended to be felt. 

I picked up Noema at 5am on a cold Auckland morning, met Cherie at the airport and we set off to Brisbane. We landed in a 30 degree Brisbane, hauling our music gear to the uber which we couldn’t find for a while, and then headed to our accommodation.

Bigsound is set in Fortitude Valley and we were lucky enough to be staying a five-minute walk from the main centre. This is where there would be multiple venues hosting over 120 Australian and NZ artists for the next four days. We attended soundcheck for the venues we’d be playing, which really helped me get an idea of how the upcoming shows would feel. An integral part of live shows, which I’ve learned over the years and from Cherie’s mentoring, is always to show gratitude for the live sound engineers and team who are running the event. This is not only important to just be respectful and appreciative of their work (as it’s a thankless job on their end for the most part), but it’s important to remember that they are an integral part of your ‘team’ for the show and you all want to have a good relationship and value each other. 

Touching base with Kayla and Dan who were the sound engineers for the different venues was great, and getting to know Dan ended up with me loving a certain microphone he had hired for our show at The Wickham, a microphone which I’m saving up for to add to my live show gear! 

I’ve been doing music for a long time, and if there’s anything I know now, it is that my creative brain always gives me a last minute idea, and I just have to be ready for it. This time, it was to make a unique ‘business card’ to give out during the week to anyone who may be interested in my music. Red roses have always been a part of my imagery and branding and so I wanted to create an origami red rose that would have a QR code for a link to a specific website page https://www.alaynamusic.com/bigsound

I know my set could only give a glimpse of my music, so I curated three playlists for the listeners to go through depending on their mood. If the person unfolded the rose, there would also be a note, ‘I saw alayna live at Bigsound in Brisbane, September 2024’ and a signed hand-written lyric on the back, one of my favourites, ‘My softness is my superpower’.

Great idea in theory, like all my ideas. But in reality it meant countless hours practising different origami rose techniques, creating a template that would ensure it would fold the right way, that the QR code would be big enough and not bent, getting the right GSM paper that would hold shape etc. etc… But this is my brain and when I believe in an idea I will dedicate all my waking hours to it. And it was worth it, we got it done and I was so proud at my shows giving out my roses and sharing part of my art with listeners in their own unique way. 

The first show on Tuesday September 3 at The Wickham was one I’ll never forget. I was prepared for the chatty, loud room of listeners popping in for half a song and then leaving (normal for these kinds of events), but for some reason I had a magic room that stayed with me with reverence throughout the whole performance. I love when an audience holds space for me to share my vulnerable songs, and this audience did just that. It felt so special, and a real highlight for my career to have a show like that as my first ever Australia show. 

The next day the shows were a lot more as expected, but I know that Noema and I played well, and after a high of the night before I felt I had a bit more confidence in myself as an artist and performer. 

Deciding on the musical direction for your show for these events is important, As there are really quick changeovers you want to ensure your set up is as easy as possible, whilst also doing your songs justice. Our set up was simply keys, vocals and guitar which in the right setting is magic, but the risk is that it is really room dependent. If I would change anything, I’d look at implementing some sort of minimal tracks for the songs in my set to help cut through a potentially chattier room and show more dynamics in the set. 

The week is so full on, with so many opportunities for mixers, seminars and panels to attend, but I know myself and many other artists performing were more on self-preservation mode. Talking in noisy venues is not the best care for a voice that has to perform three sets in two days, so until I clocked off from my booked shows I just focused on getting the performances done as best as I could. 

After my last set on Wednesday evening, I had more bandwidth to finally go and see others play, which was so inspiring. Paige, Georgia Lines, Reiki Ruawai, Park Rd were some of the NZ artists I got to see, and apparently only around 10% of the showcasing artists at this year’s Bigsound were from NZ. I was so proud of us Aotearoa musicians for representing our industry the way that we all did.

One of the highlights of the eventwas witnessing the incredible Jamaica Moana, an incredible artist from Australia. I was in awe of their show – it was impeccably rehearsed, took us on an incredible journey and with so much energy and passion. Sometimes you see artists that just make you want to be a better ‘you’ and this show did exactly that. 

If I got anything out of the week, it was the word ‘intention’. Whatever you do, do it well, and be intentional. There are always a million things that we supposedly ‘need’ to be doing as artists, and I think that’s why a lot of us get burnt out. It’s virtually impossible to do it all on our own, and even those with a massive team still find it difficult. I’ve always felt like I’m never doing enough, even though I’m doing as much as I can and struggling throughout the process. 

This was an invaluable takeaway for me, and one I’d suggest to anyone who’s on this journey. If this is a lifelong career you want to do, you may as well be enjoying yourself a bit more and feeling fulfilled along the way. So discern what is important to you, do your research, block out the noise, and do it the best that you can! 

I’m a firm believer that there’s space for everyone, despite the conflicting messages sometimes. The more we carve out our unique path, the more our space that only we can fill will become visible to us. And don’t forget to enjoy the journey. That’s all that there is…