Listen to Big Sigh's Debut 'Tether' EP

An avant-folk intersection of tenderly plucked guitars, time-warping drones, Moe Tucker-esque percussive pulse and the harmonic vocal radiance of Rachel Hope Peary and Nicholas Joseph Walsh, Tether is the debut EP from Kirikiriroa duo Big Sigh. Laid down at Roundhead Studios with producer De Stevens and guest contributors Tiare Kelly, Arden Tanner-Dempsey and Jim Fulton, Tether sounds admirably lush across its four tracks, conjuring expansive and atemporal sonic settings in a manner which sometimes reminds these ears of a less-lo-fi take on Xpressway acts of yore, feeling akin to a lost field recording during the intro to 'I Am A Tree'.

In fine form at the Sunreturn's late summer Bethells Beach Cafe festival, Big Sigh are venturing back out and about to celebrate, following last Thursday's Ōhinehou release show with four more gigs around Aotearoa. Enter the world of Tether and catch Big Sigh on tour at the following dates...

"This EP is really just the combination of our voices and instruments in a room. These first songs came out pretty quickly and they’re what informed the direction of the band, if that makes sense. We basically met, started working on music together and rehearsed pretty regularly for a year. It felt like a really serendipitous meeting. We were each going through some heavy stuff personally that naturally fed into the music. That was basically all of 2024: writing, talking about the songs, rehearsing, tweaking the arrangements." - Nicholas Joseph Walsh

"I think these recordings capture a freshness before any thought about what it should sound like. We simply shared our songs and responded to each other in real time and then went with that. First thought, best thought. As for the overall sound these first recordings were a capture of that first creative spark between two collaborating artists." - Rachel Hope Peary

Big Sigh

Friday 22nd May - Manu and Mon's, Raglan
Friday 29th May - Last Place, Hamilton*
Friday 12th June - Pyramid Club, Wellington w/ Thomas Arbor*
Auckland date to be announced

*Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

'Tether' is out now on major streaming platforms via Sunreturn.