I know that putting the defibrillator onto PopLib earlier this week was to intended to try restore a pulse to this music blog to help address the lack of writing about new underground music from NZ, but it has all been Aussie pop since Wurld Series at the start of this run.

There’s always been a competitive love-hate relationship between NZ and Australia and music is no exception. But its just a fact that the Aussie do NZ low-key jangling alt-pop better than most NZ bands these days. Proof in point is this new single called “Self Help”, the title track of a forthcoming new Dumb Things album.

Dumb Things last album “Time Again” was released back in 2019. It was a low-key cracker of an album. I’m low-key excited that there’s another in the pipeline.

I like the direct and relatable conversational style of their lyrics, in this case a conversation the songwriter is having with himself in the mirror:

“Lately I’ve been working hard on my personality
Cos you got to keep it up, to keep it together ah ha
Been trying to find the time to put the work in
Yeah, I’ve been working out how to work it out.”

Haven’t we all, mate? Haven’t we all? There’s also a Go-Betweens lyrical reference in this song. See if you can spot it.

I wrote a surprisingly long and lovingly-crafted review of that 2019 Dumb Things album that I’m at risk of repeating here, so maybe just click the hyperlink and read what I said about them in 2019 because it still applies to “Self Help” here. And while you are clicking links maybe read the also quite long and lovingly-crafted review I did of Dumb Things guitarist/ vocalist Madeleine Keinonen’s album as Renovator’s Delight because it was also a low-key cracker of an album and reminded me of some great Dunedin bands from the years when NZ bands did NZ low-key jangling alt-pop better than the Aussies.