Eigenface celebrate their debut album release with a Aotearoa Tour over October/November.
Eigenface is a New Zealand/New York trio that blend folk intimacy, dream-punk atmospheres and electronic experimentation. Their songs move between comfort and unease, pairing bright melodies with dissonance, layered vocal harmonies and richly textured arrangements. With a sound that sits comfortably alongside artists such as Everything Everything, Son Lux and Loma while harking back to Radiohead and Portishead. Eigenface have developed a softly disarming style that finds beauty in uncertainty. Danica Bryant from Tearaway reviewed them as Eigenface are a quirky upcoming act worth listening to, their sound both weird, wonderful and unmistakably Wellington.
The band comprises Penelope Esplin (French for Rabbits, Lake South, Grawlixes) on synth and vocals, Elliot Vaughan (CNZ/NZSM Composer in Residence 2024, Moth Quartet, RNZ Concert Presenter) on bass and vocals, and Logan Valentine (Moon Lander) on electric guitar and vocals. The group formed from an impromptu challenge to write and perform on one another's work, the result became a cohesive set of songs, resulting in Eigenface's self-titled debut album.
Released on Home Alone Records, Eigenface arrives on October 2, 2026. Recorded and mixed by Vaughan and mastered by Harris Newman (Wolf Parade, Buck Meek, Godspeed You! Black Emperor), the album features Vaughan's lush string arrangements throughout. Across its songs, the band explores memory, place, relationships and the tension between beauty and discomfort through expansive arrangements, electronic textures and intimate storytelling.
Eigenface’s debut single, House by the Sea, reached #1 on RDU (Christchurch), #4 on Radio1 (Dunedin) and #2 on the Student Radio Network Charts. Eigenface have appeared at Day in the Bay, The Performance Arcade and Newtown Festival, and shared stages with Lake South, Julian Temple and Birdfeeder.
Michaela Tempers is a writer and musician based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. She picked up a guitar for the first time at 16 after seeing a black and white video of Joan Baez covering Bob Dylan’s classic ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’. She begged her brother for guitar lessons and taught herself to sing, inspired predominantly by the folk artists of the 60s and 70s.
While studying for her master’s in Creative Writing, she began writing a new collection of songs exploring the complexities of womanhood. These songs formed the basis for her forthcoming EP ‘Good Woman’, informed by her early influences as well as more recent loves, Frazey Ford, Laura Marling, and Julia Jacklin. She has opened for Creedence Clearwater Revival, Holly Arrowsmith, as well as Australian folk artists Boy & Bear and Sarah Blasko.
Eigenface Album Release Tour
Friday 2nd October – Space Academy, Christchurch
Saturday 3rd October – Pearl Diver, Dunedin
Friday 6th November – Vogelmorn, Wellington
Saturday 7th November – Porridge Watson, Whanganui
Thursday 12th November – Big Fan, Auckland
Friday 13th November – Last Place, Hamilton
Tickets on sale via undertheradar.co.nz
linktr.ee/eigenfaceeigenface.nzinstagram.com/eigenface_/youtube.com/@EigenfaceNZinstagram.com/michaela.t...open.spotify.com/artist/...
alternative,
electronic,
pop,
rock,
Eigenface,
Michaela Tempers
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