Mermaidens is Lily Paris West, Gussie Larkin and Abe Hollingsworth, a cerulean dreamsurf band from Wellington.
High school friends, the trio came together at Camp A Low Hum 2013, vowing they would become good enough to play at the revered independent music festival in Wainuiomata the next year. They did, and at this year's event, they were certainly the highlight for many.
Now the band is making their first visit foray south, stopping at Port Chalmers' Chick's Hotel tonight for a show with Bad Sav and Kane Strang (in what may be his final solo show for some time).
The trio is touring in support of their new sophomore EP, O, the follow-up to February's Bones, both of which are available for ''name your price'' on their bandcamp.
''O was recorded and mixed entirely by us three,'' guitarist and vocalist Larkin said.
''This made it a really great learning experience as we've usually had some expert tech dude helping us out, fiddling with knobs and such. So it was a challenge but we don't regret doing it this way and enjoyed learning new things. The three tracks on the EP are more pared back than our previous recordings and I think they're a good representation of the direction we're going in. We really like twinkly, reverby, plucked guitar riffs and the songs on O have quite a bit of this. I think from having more experience jamming together Lily and I have refined our individual sound a bit more: experimenting more with pedals etc.''
You can feel the results of this ruckus jamming clearly on both Mermaidens EPs.
Operating with a simple two guitars and a drum kit dynamic, the songs rely on the interplay of the three musicians. Great riffs from Larkin and West swirl around one another and collide to form each song's distinct sections, while Hollingsworth's fluid and powerful drumming emphasises changes in the dynamic.
It puts Mermaidens somewhere between a more menacing, but just as hazy Warpaint, and the tight, more technical riffage of Battles, if fronted by PJ Harvey.
Both Larkin and West also have powerful, raw and impassioned voices which work wonderfully together, either singing in harmony or alternating on tracks.
''Lily and I know our own voices and each other's pretty well, and know what suits them,'' Larkin said. ''It's usually very easy to decide [who sings what]. Sometimes one of us might write a melody but have the other person's voice in mind to sing it.''
Thankfully for fans of New Zealand music, Larkin also assures me that Wellington's music scene isn't in trouble despite losing a few key venues in recent months, including Puppies, a venue run by Camp A Low Hum founder Blink.
''I seriously don't know what people are freaking out about!'' she exclaims.
''We have some great venues which treat musicians really well, and we've also got a few low-key venues which don't sell alcohol, putting the focus more on music. House parties here are rad too. Overall the Wellington scene is very close-knit and easy to make connections.''
See them
Mermaidens O EP release tour, tonight at Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers, with support from Bad Sav and Kane Strang. Doors at 8.30pm, $10 on the door. Chick's Magic Bus leaves Countdown at 8.30pm, University of Otago library at 8.35pm, and returns to town after the show. Free to ride with your 2014 Onecard. For music see: mermaidens.bandcamp.com
