Release Roundup: Greatsouth, Karl Sölve Steven, Alec, Marlin's Dreaming, Yon Loader, Take Hold + More

Revisit this week's coverage of Louisa Nicklin, Violet Hirst, Georgia Gets By, Ex-Partner and Ani Saafa, then explore more new / recent Aotearoa release highlights by Karl Sölve Steven x Anna Fält, Alec, Yon Loader, Greatsouth, Take Hold, Marlin's Dreaming, Te KuraHuia, and TV2.

Aotearoa's multi-award winning composer, electronic synthesist and (in an earlier era) funk-rock star Karl Sölve Steven today unveils an aural encounter with Sweden-based voice artist Anna Fält. 'Ähky' is an entrancing percussive / rhythmic, subtly textural first single from the pair's forthcoming collaborative album V Ä V A, releasing on 23rd July via Sunreturn. Fält states: "I originally wrote Ähky as a solo performance in 2015 and sometimes I sing it at my concerts. It's an old spell against stomach ache or colic, basically it’s a text that says to this ache to go away, just in a very poetic way with many words. Karl saw a video of me singing it live and asked if we could do something with it without knowing where it comes from. Parts of his family come from the Finn Forests and still live there!”

Also out this week via Sunreturn is Another Party, the first collection of tunes from Tāmaki Makaurau's Alec in five years. Succinctly described as "rats escaping the endless pasture", Alec's new album feels alive with invention, finding wide open spaces between avant / post-rock panorama, dream-pop / shoegaze wooze and even mystic Tibbetts-y guitar pyrotechnics — well worth a deep listen. Alec states the record considers "exploring living in New Zealand from multiple perspectives and characters. The good, the bad and the ugly... The first half of Endless Pasture is very dreamy. I was hoping to make something sound like you were listening to your subconscious. The second half gets more lucid. This involved a lot of nostalgic sounds I lifted from the Alesis Quadraverb, using distorted guitars and muffled vocals to flirt with shoegaze. Sort of like a submerged version of a '90s songwriter".

An inclusive recording project helmed by James Stuteley (Carb on Carb, How Get) with producer Harry Lilley (First Move), Yon Loader's debut album will be out via US indie imprint Tiny Engines on 13th September. Emo-punk lead single 'Another Year' featuring Victoria Chellew of Bad Friend receives a new official release — look forward to more collaborations with members of Recitals, Welcomer, For Everest, Model Home and Fouler.

Greatsouth is the new Māori alt-rock musical vision of Papakura's FABLE, whose 2023 single 'Popstar In Manix' was a notable stunner. Greatsouth invites you to have a geez at beaut debut single 'Please!' with video directed by Oscar Keys — second single 'Nada' will be out tomorrow for Matariki.

Tāmaki Makaurau melodic hardcore collective Take Hold completed their new five song Stay Down EP with explosive final piece of the puzzle 'Afterthought'. Best bring earplugs to this Saturday's launch gig at Pōneke's Valhalla with Coldxwar and Pissbaby — get tickets HERE, tour marches onwards in July.

Enchanting our ears with their recent collaboration with Erny Belle 'Earnestly', Marlin's Dreaming announced their first album in three years HIRL will be out later this year. They treated fans to the breezy indie-pop elegance of second single 'Hello, My Dear', launched with a video directed by frontman Semisi Ma’ia’i — tipping the hat to Sam Neill's unhinged performance in director Andrzej Żuławski's 1981 pitch black spy / horror classic Possession.

2022's recipient of the SRN Te Tohu Kōwhitinga Tāngata (People's Choice Award) and Waiata Māori Music Award 'Te Tohu Kaipūoro Rangatahi' (Emerging Artist Under 25 Years), Te KuraHuia delivers maximum Bad Mana Wahine energy on her bumping new bilingual UHA EP — sung / rapped in both te reo and English.

Aotearoa signalwave woman TV2 reemerges with the cozy ambient crackle of 1450kHz at Broken Grove, finding boggy thematic kinship with interesting recent developments in the expanded universe of dungeon synth. "Nights of 1000 stars spent in Broken Grove by the bogs / I've learned to love my sanctuary unconditionally / The cicadas so deafening and my reception poor / The mud hugs the cypress / The murky and husky stench / The isolation wraps me like a warm blanket / Nights too valuable to share with anyone".