Kiwi band Dictaphone Blues are gearing up to tour the country July.
It follows the release of their latest EP Elastic Meditation, which hits the shelves today.
But frontman Edward Castelow has redefined what it means to be a band. Onstage he has a synth player, a drummer, and a bassist, but when it comes to the studio Castelow prefers to work alone.
"I'm not selfish - I'm just lucky I've got guys who entertain that approach," he said.
From the instruments to the vocals, nearly everything in the recorded tracks is performed by Castelow.
"I'll get a chord progression, get a melody, come in fool around with everything in my room, on the keyboard, on the drums, and just sort of get it all cooking and later on when I have a song I'll present that to the live band."
The singer songwriter followed that same creative process for Dictaphone Blues' latest EP, which he describes as a mix of "groovy, buoyant guitar-pop".
Castelow says he's a big sci-fi fan and drew inspiration from digital technology.
"I like writing songs about the future, or I like writing songs about computer things and always about love."
But he says the tune 'Sin Don't Rattle' has a very different theme. He calls it his "rebuttal" against Brian Tamaki's comments blaming earthquakes on the gay community.
"How stupid is this, not to just think that, but to sort of deliver that to a large group of people and being responsible for that view," he said.
Castelow says he was lucky enough to work with UK producer Dave Eringa, known for his work with big name rock bands Manic Street Preachers and The Who.
"But I didn't know he'd worked with Kylie Minogue, and I thought that would be a great middle ground," he said.
Dictaphone Blues will perform at four locations across the country next month.
Newshub.
