Mount Maunganui local Bluey Green releases debut single ‘Morning Sunshine’
Friday 05 February 2021
Local artist and songwriter Bluey Green has made his music debut with his uplifting summer anthem, ‘Morning Sunshine’. Watch the video below!
Listen to 'Morning Sunshine' on Spotify and on Apple Music.
A dreamy indie-pop-meets-surf-rock gem, Bluey Green (AKA Mitch Horton) explains that the turmoil of 2020 was the catalyst for him to create a musical presence of summery optimism and hope, drenched in the elements of his 90s upbringing and surf culture.
“The initial concept of the song came about a few years ago but I hadn’t really built on it until the middle of 2020,” says Horton. “The song wears its heart on the sleeve in terms of meaning. But in short, it is simultaneously about the simple hopefulness found in the beginning of a new day and the need for us to all possess relationships and spiritual ideas that keep us hopeful and excited about the future.”
Horton adds that he wanted to make a song that sounded great on a road trip. “I was on a surf trip throughout Mexico for a while with a friend that would play ‘You’re the Voice’ by John Farnham every morning to get us moving and it worked every time! I sort of hope ‘Morning Sunshine’ could be that same song for someone else.”
Although a self-described songwriter from birth, to do the song justice, Horton sought out the critically acclaimed artist and producer Mark Perkins, who is better known as his artist name MERK, to produce and mix ‘Morning Sunshine’.
“From the get go I knew I wanted to work with Mark Perkins on my first collection of releases. I hadn’t met him but being such a big fan of his music (MERK) I just had a feeling that he would get my vision and help it come to life,” he says.
“Mark was an absolute wizard and even figured out how to decipher my genius ideas such as ‘I think the keys should sound like a marshmallow’. I can truly say making ‘Morning Sunshine’ with Mark, became one of the single greatest experiences of my life.”
When developing the concept for the video and wanting to do justice to the song’s summery vibe, Horton set himself the task of hunting around the New Zealand Archives website . “I’ve always been quite nostalgic and I love film from the 70s and 80s, especially surf,” he says. Although looking for footage with a summer/beach setting, he stumbled across a skiing video from 1977. “It had the most awesome colours and cinematography that worked incredibly well with the song. I think it was originally commissioned by Tourism New Zealand to promote the South Island ski fields. So I approached the New Zealand Archives organisation and after a little back and forth, I got permission to use the original footage in the video.” It was only later and after a bit more digging, that Horton realised the original film from which the footage was taken was directed by none other than the legendary Sam Neill. “I thought that was just a coincidence that the director was also called Sam Neill, but when I looked up online sure enough a young Sam Neill had directed it. Being a massive fan of his from the first time I saw Jurassic Park at the movies as a 10 year old, I was really pumped!”
Now based in Mount Maunganui after an adventurous life of surf and travel, including a stint in Eastern Europe as part of a rock opera, Bluey Green navigates a bridge between the worlds of pop, surf rock and dance while staying true to his authentic and honest song writing.
‘Morning Sunshine’ is the first single from Bluey Green’s debut EP.
Find Bluey Green:
