You don’t hear a great deal of folk and country music coming out of New Zealand. It’s there for sure, and big names have certainly built local and international reputations (Marlon Williams, Tami Neilson, Tiny Ruins etc) but finding the next wave of artists can sometimes involve a bit of digging.

This new track by the group A Straw Assembly caught our ear with its rustic, backwoods feel. Think The Band and The Felice Brothers in a weary barn jam. M Lane’s voice cracks and keens, like a younger Vic Chesnutt while the drums plod (pefectly) along, like the work of Dave Mattacks (Fairport Convention).

‘Lispenard St‘ appears on their album A Little More Life, a musical take on Hanya Yanagihara’s novel ‘A Little Life’, where they head off into all kinds of musical directions.