Annemarie Duff might be in the business of making music, but she clearly likes her peace and quiet, too.
Adopting the intriguing moniker Mmdelai, the 22-year-old former Dunedin woman has completed a debut album with an equally intriguing name, For Sleep and Creativity. Although Duff may also be in an alternative rock band, there is no irony attached to the title.
"I was having trouble sleeping so [this sort of music] was what I was listening to at the time. It is also background music, to help people get into the creative flow," she explains during a break from her studies in Christchurch earlier this week.
Having attended Mosgiel Intermediate, Columba College and the University of Otago, Duff moved from Dunedin to Christchurch at the start of last year to further her musical ambitions.
She has completed a one-year course in audio engineering and production at the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (MAINZ), and is now partway through a one-year diploma in creative enterprise.
The collection of tracks she completed during a recent two-month burst of creativity were composed and recorded at her Christchurch flat.
Using the computer-based skills she had honed at MAINZ, Duff combined 14 years of piano playing with an ear for more ambient sounds.
The result is an album comprising shades of light and dark; there's a bit of grey, too. Think Massive Attack or Portishead and you're not far away, though most of Duff's music is instrumental rather than vocal-based.
A notable exception is the song Marbles. Featuring some ethereal singing by Duff, the track has recently been included on a Christchurch downbeat music sampler, Chartdisk Vol 3.
For Sleep and Creativity was recently released on iTunes and Duff hopes to complete CD pressings of the independently produced album next week, after which she will attempt to market it in shops.
"With the industry being in a bit of a fuddle about selling music these days, I thought it might be interesting to see how it goes marketed as a product in non-music stores.
"That is my big vision. I'm hoping people might get the idea. I'm hoping it might sell as gift product or in bookshops."
Duff has other projects on the go, too. Her originals band, The Black Light, a collection of friends and flatmates past and present, has played a few gigs and is keen for more; she has also completed a couple of soundtracks, an area in which she would like to explore further.
"It is hard to think past the end of the year, but I'd like to be based overseas," Duff says. "That would be amazing, but we'll just see what happens."
