Stolen Hill

Background

Anika Moa said that the album contrasts with her debut, Thinking Room; "Stolen Hill is not as over-produced; more sparse, more feeling, more family-like, more Māori, more me...[it] is just me growing up".

The title track of the album relates to the poor treatment of Māori during the New Zealand land wars.

Promotion and reception

In September 2005, Moa announced twenty-two shows in a nationwide album tour in October that year, two months after the albums's release.

Grant Smithies of The Sunday Star-Times gave Stolen Hill four stars, calling it "poignant and original", while Russell Baillie of The New Zealand Herald gave it only three stars, criticising several songs' "unlikely marriage of style and subject," and called it an album of "oddball character." Nick Bollinger from New Zealand Listener said "Stolen Hill finds Moa maturing and discovering her own sound, but it feels like a work in progress. Although full of charm and unmistakable in its locale, the styles Moa toys with sometimes appear borrowed; as if she is trying them on and still making up her mind which ones fit her best."

Track listing

1. "Ka Whakahuia Ano" – 1:51
2. "In the Morning" – 4:17
3. "Lies in This Land" – 4:32
4. "Picture Me in the 70's" – 3:48
5. "Stolen Hill" – 4:39
6. "Broken Man" – 3:03
7. "Loving You" – 5:07
8. "Annie Goes to Sleep" – 5:16
9. "Wrestled With Your Angels" – 4:36
10. "Society" – 3:48
11. "Papercuts" – 4:18
12. "Kotahitanga" – 1:00

Chart performance

The album debuted on the New Zealand Albums Chart in August 2005 at number six. In the album's second week it was certified gold, selling over 7,500 albums. The album spent a total of eight weeks in the chart.

Personnel