New Music 20/03
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Evie Bamford — Through the Day
Tāmaki Makaurau musician Evie Bamford returns with her new single Through the Day, a warm and expansive indie track shaped by her background in jazz and classical music. Written shortly after starting her first full-time job, the song pairs vulnerable lyricism with a sweeping arrangement, weaving together cello, clarinet and layered vocal harmonies to create a lush and reflective soundscape.
Following her 2025 debut single Money Bag, Through the Day continues to showcase Bamford’s distinctive approach to songwriting, blending indie rock with colourful instrumentation. The Auckland-based guitarist, clarinettist and vocalist has been steadily building a following through her uplifting live performances, including opening for Serebii and supporting international folk-rock artist Tyler Hilton.
Aro — Tāwauwau (ALBUM)
Te Tiriti-based duo Aro return with their new album Tāwauwau, a richly imaginative project written while the pair lived on the road with their tamariki in a custom caravan during 2025. Blending reo Māori and English with elements of jazz, folk and soul, the album explores a fantastical emotional landscape where wonder, faith and whānau life intersect. Across the record, songs move between the magical and the everyday, from the hopeful tones of earlier single Puna Ora to the reflective tension of Mundane.
Comprised of Emily and Charles Looker (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua, Ngāti Mutunga), Aro have built a reputation for storytelling that centres connection, whenua and language. The duo have previously earned recognition at the Waiata Māori Music Awards, winning Best Pop Album in 2024, and have received nominations for honours including the APRA Silver Scroll. With Tāwauwau, the pair step into new creative territory while continuing their journey of weaving music, culture and community into a deeply personal body of work.
Bridges — Life Of The Party (EP)
Ōtautahi-born, Tāmaki Makaurau-based indie-pop artist Bridges has released her sophomore EP Life of the Party, alongside the dreamy new single and video Drive. The five-track project leans further into pop territory while maintaining Bridges’ introspective songwriting, blending dream-pop textures, synth-driven production and melodic indie sensibilities. A road-trip anthem at heart, Drive captures the carefree feeling of escaping life’s worries, with its nostalgic visualiser shot on 16mm film across the landscapes of Riverhead and Cornwall Park.
The EP also features previously released singles Life of the Party, Close To You and Lungs, continuing the momentum Bridges has built over the past year. The project includes contributions from collaborators such as Joel Jones of Borderline, alongside producers and musicians from across Aotearoa’s indie-pop scene. To celebrate the release, Bridges will take Life of the Party to the stage with two headline shows in April, performing at Space Academy in Christchurch and The Tuning Fork in Auckland.
Office Dog — Front Row Seat
Auckland indie rock three-piece Office Dog return with Front Row Seat, continuing a steady rise since forming in 2021. Made up of Kane Strang, Mitchell Innes and Rassani Tolovaa, the band emerged from Strang’s shift away from solo work into a more collaborative project. Their 2023 debut Spiel introduced their tight, fuzzed-out sound and found a growing audience, with tracks like Big Air gaining strong traction, before they followed it up with the Doggerland EP in 2024.
Front Row Seat builds on that foundation, turning its focus to the overwhelm of the 24-hour news cycle and the feeling of being stuck watching it all unfold. The track leans into that tension, letting it sit rather than resolve, and arrives with a video directed by Sophie Black that places those themes into a corporate team-building setting. With UK and European shows on the horizon alongside a run of Aotearoa dates, the new single marks the start of another active chapter for Office Dog.
Emerson — Just Not Into You
Auckland alt-pop artist Emerson returns with Just Not Into You, continuing a strong run that’s quickly established her as one of Aotearoa’s more exciting new voices. Still only 18, she’s already seen consistent chart success, with her previous single Again debuting in the Aotearoa Hot 20 and picking up editorial playlist support both locally and internationally. That momentum has been building since her debut in late 2024, alongside headline shows, national tours and festival appearances.
Just Not Into You leans into a more guitar-driven pop-rock sound, pairing sharp, conversational lyrics with a punchy edge. Written with Kiwi producer Ciarann Babbington, the track centres on the awkward reality of the friend-zone, balancing humour with the discomfort of letting someone down. Underneath the sarcasm, there’s a more honest tension around guilt and self-sabotage, giving the song a bit more weight than its surface suggests, while still keeping things direct and relatable.
FFAR, Quine — Yesterday
Rising Aotearoa electronic artists FFAR and Quine link up again with a new tech house release, continuing a collaboration that’s quickly gaining traction. The pair last worked together on Fade Away, a November release that set the tone for their shared sound and introduced a more uplifting direction across their productions.
Their latest track builds on that foundation, shaped from an idea Quine had nearly shelved before bringing FFAR into the process. With a fresh perspective, the track came together quickly and has since been tested across the summer at festivals like Rhythm and Vines and Rolling Meadows, alongside a run of club shows. It’s a clean, energetic cut designed for dancefloors, and with the duo choosing to self-release, it marks another step forward as FFAR and Quine continue to carve out their place in Aotearoa’s electronic scene.
Greta van den Brink — Bodies
Greta van den Brink continues the rollout of her debut album with Bodies, the fifth single from This Wasn’t Planned. A genre-blurring artist with a background in film and stunt work, Greta has steadily built a name for herself through a mix of vivid storytelling and emotional honesty. Previous releases like Chill Cool Girl, GIMBGTBLBM, Mr Ego and Alpine State of Mind have each added a different layer to the project, shaping an album that moves between lo-fi pop and more cinematic territory.
Bodies leans into the darker end of that spectrum, exploring identity and anxiety through the lens of the entertainment world. What began as a song about anxiety shifts into something more unsettling, drawing on the glossy, disorienting nature of Hollywood and the idea of becoming unrecognisable within it. With its haunting production and confessional core, the track captures that tension between appearance and reality, further establishing Greta van den Brink as an artist willing to sit with discomfort and push her sound into more cinematic space.
