Welcome to New Zealand Music Month for 2021. You know what that means, right? Yes, 31 Days of May Madness, attempting to post a New Zealand track every day of the month of May. It’s an obsessive task that has consumed this blog for the previous 7 years. A task made all the more difficult this year by the rubbish ‘upgrade’ to WordPress last year which results in frequent glitches and timewasting trying to recover lost content.

So, first up here’s a brand new Dunedin noisy guitar track from a brand new debut album “Heaven Is Other People” by newcomers Bathysphere. May 1st is the weekend so “Sleep In”

Those of you familiar with Dunedin’s varied ‘sounds’ over the years will perhaps be reminded of something of the spirit of Bad Sav in the songs on this album and the way the guitars construct the sonic structures that give these songs their shape and atmosphere.

Bathysphere are Julie Dunn (vocals, guitar), Josh Nicholls (drums), Peter McCall (guitar), and Richard Ley-Hamilton (bass). You will probably see all those names again this month as they feature in so many Dunedin bands past and present – Asta Rangu, Fazed on a Pony, Koizilla, Space Bats, Attack!, Males… to name just a few.

Dunn’s introspective vocals are submerged in the mix, which is either a Dunedin thing or an intentional ploy. It has the disorienting affect of providing subdued contrast the the grainy noise and note-bending guitar-wrestling and also drawing the listener in. The more you listen in for the vocals, the better your appreciation of the way the guitars and bass and drums are all contributing to the chemistry.

Bathysphere play a “Heaven Is Other People” album release show at The Crown in Dunedin on Saturday 8 May.