Jenn Tamati (she/they, Te Arawa, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāpuhi) is a vocalist and songwriter who goes by Junny. They recently moved to Whangārei and are making their way around the local swimming spots. Junny's songs sometimes layer ethereal vocals over sparse, elemental electronic production, sometimes draw inspiration from the 90s and 2000s R&B music videos, and sometimes lean into acoustic low-fi pop-folk. There's bubble popping sounds, extra hard harpsichord, and stiff electronic Spanish guitar.
Here is Junny's Shameless Plug:
My favourite local artists (that I don’t know) are new collaborative music project, Toroa. I recently heard Te Tīmatanga, their first release, and it blew me away. I’m excited to see what they continue to create.
The place I feel most creative is apparently anywhere I’m working on something else. Doing repetitive work with your hands or body gets the mind wandering in fun ways and helps a feeling turn into solid thoughts and concepts. I spent a good part of 2025 washing dishes for money so most of my creative thoughts arrived while I was hunched over a big sink. This year I’ve spent lots of time swimming laps in the local pool… maybe in and around water is the real answer…
There are two works I wish I had made, a ballet and a comedic film. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to move my music (and therefore, myself) into a live performance setting. Despite the poppy R&B sounds of my EP, I never really envisioned it being performed conventionally. There are two works that I love and am trying to harness some creative energy from. The first is Pina Bausch’s 1975 choreography to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. It is elemental and unnerving, and I’m just realising now that it likely contributed to some of the imagery in my mind when writing Kumara Suite. The second is Julio Torres’s Color Theories. I only watched it recently and found it delightful. These works are different in tone but share a surreal unpredictability that stretch across form and feel like pure distilled representations of the artists. I’m not a dancer, thespian or comedian but If I could pull off even a little bit of what they give, I would be happy. Anyways, which music venue do you reckon would be most chill about me covering the stage in soil?
My guilty pleasure is weeknight-at-home-youtube-karaoke where I can scream sing Leather and Tattoos by 48May, lay on the floor in my pyjamas and hog the mic.
My personal motto is: Life is too short.
The best places in my city are social clubs. Having recently returned to Whangārei it’s hard to look past nature spots like Pukenui Forest or the Raumanga Waterfall swimming hole. But, a big shout out to the still functioning social clubs in Whangārei like The Northland Club (where you can play pool, get a hot meal and sub $7 drinks) and the Whangārei Women’s Club (where you can learn Mahjong!).
My favourite arts space is ONEONESIX. It's an incredible venue and theatre space that is also home to the beloved community radio station, Beagle Radio 88.1FM. But, Hihiaua Cultural Centre is also a beautiful space and kaupapa. It’d be cool to see it used as a perfomance space – I like the idea of holding a show in the outdoor carving workshop surrounded by half-formed pou.
The most fun I’ve ever had on a project was on Amamelia’s Love Is Useless music vid. It was a pretty great time. Sweltering, but fun.
My favourite thing to watch on a screen is that genre of YouTube video where someone follows a busy food establishment for a whole day. I’ve gone through Scandinavian bakeries and have moved on to small Japanese fast food spots. A well-oiled hospitality machine thrills me.
My shameless plug is my debut EP Kumara Suite. Available now on bandcamp.
