Backbeat-heavy dance-floor stomper

Chandeliers. Photo supplied

Dunedin alternative pop foursome Chandeliers has just released the video single for Leather, the lead track from the group’s forthcoming sophomore EP, II.

The colourful and buzzy video was shot and produced by Casey Munro, Mark Turner and Damin McCabe at Otago Polytechnic and features the group’s take on the classic "band performs in a white room" video with a cool psych twist.

The EP is a step away from the band’s previous work (Cassette, 2014), marking a more developed turn in the young foursome’s exuberant guitar-based indie rock.

"It’s the drawing to a close of our teenage years. It’s a collection of songs written at high school that fitted really well together. We wanted to be more mature and we ended up writing darker stuff for a while. It’s a bit more grown-up," the band explained.

Thankfully, the band is no less concerned with writing greatly infectious, hooky pop songs.

Led by Nick Alexander’s buoyant, crooning vocals, the grand guitar work of Kalin Geisreiter, and the driving rhythm section of Callum Fisher and Callum Hartstonge, the songs on the forthcoming II are all slick pieces of British-influenced alt/indie, drawing on the likes of Circa Waves, The Vaccines, and fellow Kiwis Clap Clap Riot.

Leather sees the group mine the rockier side of their sound, delivering a frenetic backbeat-heavy dance-floor stomper.

The four-song EP was self-recorded by the band, tracking drums in Dunedin art/creative hub The Attic, before finishing the recordings at home.

The material was then turned over to mastering engineer Tex Houston (The Clean, 3Ds, Males), who added a glassy finish to the tight sleek collection of songs.

ELECTRO ACTS AT NONE

A trio of ethereal Christchurch electro acts will be taking over None Gallery in Stafford St next Saturday.

Headlining the show is French—concession, a project that started life in Shanghai in 2009 as a collaborative venture, but over time has evolved to be the solo recording project of Christchurch artist and musician Ella Chau Yin Chi.

The artist is on her first national tour in support of At Knifepoint, her fourth EP, and one that finds her adopting what she described to Under The Radar as a "harsher" sound as she draws inspiration from cult manga series Ghost In The Shell.

"London made, Christchurch found" producer Othersun will also perform his slick cinematic electro-pop, while ambient hypno-drone artist Instant Fantasy (aka Gemma Syme) caps off the stacked line-up.

THIS ONE TIME, AT BAND CAMP

There have also been a couple of new and interesting discoveries on Bandcamp this week.

Indie rockers Gromz has released surf-influenced debut Two and a Half Days, recorded at the former Chick’s Hotel by Tom Bell of the Port Chalmers Recording Service.

University of Otago music student Bela Khan has shared her funky, swing hop Khandora, while a mysterious release from N E W P E P S I 9 5 is holding it down for Dunedin’s vapourware aesthetic.

All of these releases are available at Bandcamp.com