“Hourglass” by Death And The Maiden

NZ Music Every Godzone Month! sign from Too Tone Records in Dunedin.

Our New Zealand Music Month song for day # 23 is “Hourglass” from Port Chalmers trio Death And The Maiden.

“Cold ocean…” intones Lucinda King as we are led into the eery, hypnotic world-in-a-song of “Hourglass”. Hope Robertson’s guitar swoops in time with Danny Brady’s subtle drum machine beats and synth arpeggios. “Collected hourglasses, filled the room up, but all that time: useless…” 

Death And The Maiden’s second album “Wisteria” is shrouded in a cool, misty ambience. It is an unusual but thrilling and muscular hybrid between electronic music and dark post-punk and an a Gothic kind of psychedelia.

“Wisteria” by Death And The Maiden

Death And The Maiden – Hope Robertson, Lucinda King, Danny Brady [Photo Chris Schmelz]

Day 9 of our 31 Days of May marathon for New Zealand Music Month is the title track from “Wisteria” the second album from Port Chalmers, Dunedin trio Death and the Maiden.

I’ll leave it to the words of Mick Middles,  writing about “Wisteria” in The Quietus today.

“From the outset, this is an urbanite noise blessed with an eerie glow. I do not know if DATM are even aware of The Haçienda, but as the title track kicks in, I can almost smell the rubber tiles and the equally aromatic metallic stairwells. This track is a beauty and perfectly sets out the stall. Central to DATM stands Lucinda King, whose bass and vocals dominate. The bass is the killer here; hypnotic, controlling and as moody as a Brontë-esque Yorkshire village. While underpinning King’s detached vocals, this central force is circulated by Hope Robertson’s spiralling guitars and super-snap percussion. Danny Brady’s soothing synth (and machines) fog the edges.”

The writer – who wrote the book (quite literally) on Factory Records, Joy Division and New Order (among others) – understands the atmosphere and also the substance of their work. “Beautiful, scary and endlessly evocative” indeed.