Reb Fountain Shares New Album 'Water For Gasoline' + Announces Aotearoa Tour

Winner of the prestigious Taite Music Prize for her 2020 self-titled album, Tāmaki Makaurau songwriter Reb Fountain has had an extraordinarily productive decade so far by any stretch. In the past two years alone she released her acclaimed 2025 long player How Love Bends, received the 2024 Best Original Score New Zealand Screen Award for her original soundtrack for Escaping Utopia, explored multimedia territory with her 2026 electronic SMOKE SIGNALS video EP, and even put out a Christmas single!

Reb Fountain's renaissance era continues with today's unveiling of her seventh album Water for Gasoline, launched in tandem with free in-store performances this weekend at Tāmaki's Real Groovy Records, and Flying Nun stores in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Ōtautahi. Adding to the release day excitement, Fountain has revealed details of the Water for Gasoline Tour Aotearoa, playing nine headline dates with enhanced band — including fresh recruits Dianne Swann and James Duncan with trusty members Dave Khan and Earl Robertson — supported by special guests Mads Harrop from Ōtepoti and Whakatū-based LA songwriter Young Moon.

Opening with impassioned protest ballad 'Good People', Fountain's new album was written and recorded in whirlwind turnaround in her garage studio earlier this year — born from immediacy, trust in her own instincts and an urge to speak to our present moment. Accompanied by a new video directed by Lola Fountain-Best (Fountain's daughter) and filmed in said studio by Joe Curtis, the expansive and smokey blues-rock of title track ponders elemental needs and omnipresent vulgarities of late-stage capitalism. Out today on vinyl LP, compact disc and digitally via her own Fountain Records, the artist opened up about how Water for Gasoline swiftly came to be...

"There was so much going on, in my life and in the world. I felt so pent up that when the flood gates opened the process was clear and unwavering. But making this record wasn’t instantaneous … It was steeped in years of experience, connection, community and a conscious choice to make art and meaning.

I don’t know how people cope without art to express how it feels to be in the world. Art feels essential to me… not easy, but an instinctive way to make sense of myself and the going on.

Water for Gasoline is old school, folk, blues; the ink was still fresh on the page when we recorded it live, in one take at my home studio. ‘How come we’re asking for water and getting gasoline’, is a question I ask myself on a daily basis.

I don’t ever feel like I do this alone. My work is a collective project inspired and shaped by my fellow contributors and whānau. We share in the process so deeply and intimately and I am forever grateful for our relationships. We’ve all chosen this path and get to make music and life together that we make sense of as we roll along. What a gift."

Reb Fountain Water for Gasoline Tour Aotearoa

Thursday 1st October - Last Place, Hamilton w/ Young Moon
Friday 2nd October - Totara St, Mount Maunganui w/ Young Moon
Saturday 3rd October - Dome Cinema, Gisborne w/ Young Moon
Sunday 4th October - Paisley Stage, Napier w/ Young Moon
Friday 9th October - The Loons, Christchurch w/ Young Moon
Saturday 10th October - Pearl Diver, Dunedin w/ Young Moon
Sunday 11th October - Yonder, Queenstown w/ Young Moon
Friday 23rd October - Powerstation, Auckland w/ Mads Harrop
Saturday 24 October- Meow Nui, Wellington w/ Mads Harrop

Fans are encouraged to sign up to Reb’s Newsletter via rebfountain.co.nz for early access to artist pre-sale tickets that go on sale Monday 17 August at midday for 24 hours or until allocation is exhausted
General public tickets on sale Wednesday 19 August 12pm from rebfountain.co.nz

The Water for Gasoline Aotearoa Tour is funded through NZ On Air and supported by the NZ Music Commission

'Water for Gasoline' is out today via Fountain Records.