Release Radar: Nat Hathaway, Roy Montgomery, Nicky By Nicky, Dion Lunadon, Pieces Of Molly + More

Revisit our past week's coverage of Delaney Davidson, Carnivorous Plant Society, Sivle Talk, Oscar Dowling and NYMPHO, and scroll downwards for new / recent Aotearoa highlights from Nat Hathaway, Roy Montgomery, Nicky By Nicky, Dion Lunadon, Pieces Of Molly, Eden Burns, Sabreen, Jonathan Crayford & Riki Gooch, and Moniker.

Tāmaki's premier ambassador of yachting while rockin', Nat Hathaway enchants with the stuttering bass / piano grooves and smooth soulful tones of 'Vacation'. A tune which simply doesn't quit until Hathaway's sparkling synths set sail into the horizon, the video for 'Vacation' filmed by Andrew Isdale finds the songwriter / multi-instrumentalist galavanting riverside near Bethells Beach. He shared: "This song might be my favourite from the new album so I hope you like it too."

Roy Montgomery has forged an alliance with London imprint AD 93, whose current roster includes such fellow boundary pushers as james K, Shackleton, Leif and post-punks YHWH Nailgun (visiting Tāmaki Makaurau next month). The Aotearoa guitar innovator has a new collaborative album with UK vocalist / songwriter Martha Skye Murphy out on 7th August entitled Nebular, featuring Mary Lattimore on closing track 'At Dusk'. Immerse your ears in seven minute lead single 'Cloudburst'. "Roy and I have a shared vernacular in the music we make together; a kind of sonic sign language, which allows us to communicate without ever really explaining the material to one another. This is partly due to our shared process, which embraces layers, multitracking and imperfection (for me). I see our collaboration as a continuously unravelling piece of string; one song leads onto the next like a slowly evolving constellation and I’d like to hope we continue in this vein."

Nicky By Nicky is the solo project of Nicholas Johnston, former front-person of Cut Of Your Hands — taking flight into heavily textural dream-pop, balearic lapping grooves, introspective soul, oceanic ambiance and more on the seven track Image Search. "Privilege to share a project I’ve felt most aligned in producing, probably more so than across my career. Whether that translates to work that resonates with anyone else is a different matter… not that I don’t care, but my desire for external validation here is at an all time low. Happy to doing this for me and to love what I’ve done. It’s a liberating position from which to share this with you all."

A globe-trotting Aotearoa artist who has devoted more than three decades to spreading the gospel of untamed rawk 'n' roll, Dion Lunadon's (The D4, Nothing At All!) Rare Gems Volume One bundles together in one handy spot ten "rare and unreleased studio tracks recorded between 2016 and 2026."

An Ōtautahi group who also worship at the alter of the riff, Pieces Of Molly's full-throttle 'Alligator' sounds like an immediate crowd favourite — complete with frenzy-inducing, bacchanalian visuals by LORE films. "The song is built around tension, aggression, manipulation and the feeling of it pulling you back in. It’s garage rock filth, inspired by classic hard rock attitude but pushed into darker territory. We wanted it to feel wild and unpredictable while still having that big energy."

Always on the go, "the prophet of the Big Beat, your favourite Deejay's favourite producer" Eden Burns dropped the third cut from his forthcoming Big Beat Manifesto Vol. XII EP via Public Possession. Putting to one side the shock this listener felt when he realised he won't be able to pick up a copy of the 12" at Tāmaki's now-closed Flying Out store (RIP), 'Razor' delivers the goods with body-compelling bass, summery percussive skitters and precisely the right kind of synth swooshes.

Tāmaki Makaurau-based Bangladeshi songwriter Sabreen swirls together snappy power-pop exuberance and a grounding dose of introspection, sounding not worlds away from The Beths on 'Therapy'. Bop along with her self-directed vid for the tune, co-starring Nate Selway. "Therapy is my inner monologue in song form. It's so easy to get absolutely tangled in your own thoughts and believe that they're some big secret you can't share. But once you do, you realise everyone around you is probably feeling the same way, and it's so much easier to navigate your feelings together."

Launched at the tail end of May but certainly deserving an extended spotlight, Jonathan Crayford and Riki Gooch aka Riki Pirihi's jazz-fusion opus Big Foot was recorded all the way back in 2007 at Trident Studios in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, finally out now on vinyl LP. Crayford shared: "These are tunes I played with Riki and others at our regular gig at Havana Bar and other venues in Wellington for a couple of years back in 2002 to 2006, music I wrote to express some kind of feeling I had at the time — often to do with growing up in NZ and then living outside of it in places like New York. When I moved back to NZ in 2000 I was amazed to discover a whole new generation of musicians that were really happening and a fertile scene. This was a great period and one in which we all got together and played and played and played. This album is a product of that, a time stamp of that wonderful colourful and abundant period."

A beloved part of Aotearoa cinematic history, it's somewhat baffling the official soundtrack to director Taika Waititi's 2016 feature film Hunt for the Wilderpeople has never been released on vinyl LP... up until now! Composed by Moniker — also known as The Phoenix Foundation's Samuel Flynn Scott, Luke Buda and Conrad Wedde — you can now finally spin these transportive tunes anytime you like on your household record player, adorned with a larger than life photographic portrait of co-star Julian Dennison.