US experimental-pop songsmith (and collaborator with Ariel Pink) John Maus has announced two South Island headline shows this August while in Aotearoa for The Others Way Festival performance in Auckland.
He will be joined by psychedelic prog experimentalist Gary War (USA) and enigmatic local dream-pop act Purple Pilgrims.
One of the most enigmatic figures in music today, John Maus is a man out of time. Cinematic in scope and underscored by a deadpan streak of absurdist humour, his five defining albums have quickly carved out a unique position at the intersection of power pop, punk rock and pure pathos. His driving synth pop conjures hazy anthems of the past while glimmering with hints of tomorrow. His signature style has seen him develop a cult following the world over, while leaving critics bewildered and grappling to comprehend where his sonic experiments might lead next.
Gary War
As Gary War, Greg Dalton makes warped garage-synth-prog pop that owes as much to Chrome as it does to Syd Barrett, while conveying an urgency all his own. A former member of Ariel Pinks Haunted Graffiti, Gary Wars debut album, New Raytheonport, arrived in 2008 on SHDWPLY/Disaro in a limited edition of 500 copies, introducing listeners to the druggiest version of his music and including an Alan Parsons Project cover to boot. Dalton returned to Gary War in 2018 with the full-length Gaz Forth, a polished, full-sounding set that included contributions by members of Abunai!, Purple Pilgrims, and Pigeons.
Purple Pilgrims
Psychic sisterhood and wistful wanderlust are the twin energies feeding lush ceremonial dream-pop duo Purple Pilgrims - the experimental enchantress pop project of Clementine and Valentine Nixon, sisters raised in Hong Kong and New Zealands South Island by a family with long-running musical roots: (their great-grandfather was recorded by Alan Lomax). Perfumed Earth their soon to be released sophomore album and Flying Nun debut, shimmers with veiled, kaleidoscopic textures, arriving at a sound that is both spacious and sensual, swooning and spellbound.
