Best Australian and New Zealand Music of the Week: Aldous Harding, PNAU, Tkay Maidza and More

Aldous Harding’s fifth studio album is already an album of the year contender.

Train on the Island was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales with longtime collaborator John Parish (PJ Harvey, Dry Cleaning), the 10-track release continuing a working relationship that has shaped Harding’s recent albums Party (2017), Designer (2019), and Warm Chris (2022).

Across Train on the Island, Harding is joined by various musicians including pedal steel player Joe Harvey-Whyte, harpist Mali Llywelyn, synth artist Thomas Poli, and drummer Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear).

Critics are already highly praising Harding’s album, including Pitchfork awarding it Best New Music.

Ringlets return with their first single of the year, “Hard Evidence”.

The song was recorded over a day at Roundhead Studios with producer extraordinaire De Stevens, which is more time than the post-punk band have traditionally allotted for a single track.

Watch the accompanying music video, directed by Martin Sagadin, below.

Ringlets just kicked off a massive 28-date run across the UK and Europe, including appearances at The Great Escape and ArcTanGent. They recently completed their first Australian tour which culminated in eight sold-out shows.

Already counting MJ Lenderman as an admirer, Te Whanganui-a-Tara alt-country-rock outfit Menzies release their highly anticipated debut album.

Holding My Cold Hand, Even Though Yours Is Warm is a part-concept record, playing out as an Interislander crossing between Aotearoa’s north and south islands, with real overheard intercom announcements even sprinkled throughout.

The songwriting helps make it a great Aotearoa record, touching on the All Blacks, Suzy Cato, Don McGlashan, and much more.

Tkay Maidza returns with her second release of the year, “Pressed”.

Maths Time Joy provides a hypnotic, Afrobeat groove, with Tkay flexing her lyrical muscles with bars about relationship and much more.

“House music is a big part of my artistic DNA, and I’ve been really excited by Amapiano lately, as it originates from South Africa like me,” Tkay explains. “I just wanted the opportunity to go explore different types of vocal styles but also come back to the house flows that I was always really excited about.”

Tkay’s most recent album, Sweet Justice, secured her the award for Best Soul/R&B Release at the 2024 ARIAs.

PNAU announce their new album AHHCade with a stunning new single.

“Nirvana” is a collaboration with EARTHGANG and sadMONTH, the latter being a “daring new project” from PNAU’s Nick Littlemore and Toronto’s Dom Dias.

“’Nirvana’ represents the birth of a new era,” Littlemore, who makes up PNAU with Peter Mayes, explains. “It’s fierce, feverish and harks back to the shape of punk electronic yet to come. Get ready to be uptight, upgrooved and unhinged for a new disorder.”

US hip-hop duo EARTHGANG add, “For ‘Nirvana’ we tapped the euphoric and enlightened energy with PNAU, and surfed the electro crush. We appreciate everybody who poured their energy into making it a banger.”

The Australian-born, US-based duo’s seventh studio album arrives on July 31st.

Angus & Julia Stone announce new album Karaoke Bar with its title track.

The album was created across multiple locations in Greece, France, and Australia.

The sibling duo wrote the track while travelling abroad, reflecting on the feeling of a night out on the Greek Island of Hydra, near the former home of iconic singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.

“It was a magical time on one of the strangest and most beautiful islands we’ve ever been to,”Angus recalls.

Julia adds: “A night out at a karaoke bar can hold so much goodness… that’s what the song is about. Everyone has the chance to be heard. And it’s so often more than that, a moment of real connection. We’re together, singing with a roomful of strangers, and the things that normally separate us, fall away.”

Gumbaynggirr and Noongar artist Emma Donovan shares her powerful new album.

Take Me to the River is a deeply personal and culturally resonant body of work, with Donovan reconnecting with memory and place — guided by the enduring presence of water as a source of healing, community, and spirit.

It’s a covers album, featuring Donovan’s takes on soul classic by the likes of Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and the late, great Archie Roach.

 “These songs chose me as much as I chose them,” Donovan explains. “The river has always been central to my life — it’s where we gathered, where we healed, where we sang. Taking these songs back to the water felt like the most natural thing in the world. I wanted to honour the writers who carried these words first, and find what was always mine inside them.”

Brisbane electropop favourites The Jungle Giants finally release a follow-up to 2021’s acclaimed Love Signs.

Experiencing Feelings of Joy came together during a turbulent period in Sam Hales’ life which included creative burnout, physical injury, frayed friendships, and the end of a long-term relationship.

“I’d overextended and kind of cooked it, but I really found myself,” he says. “That’s where the joy comes from, having this unwavering hope even after experiencing adversity. This record is the culmination of everything for me, because I’m so in love with it and I’m so addicted to music again.”

Read our interview with Hales here.

Aotearoa duo Big Sigh drop their new EP Tether.

Big Sigh is a collaboration between Rachel Hope Peary and Nicholas Joseph Walsh who reside in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, after the pair formed a friendship and musical partnership in early 2024.

Tether impresses with its intertwined harmonies, acoustic guitar, and droning harmonium.

They’ll celebrate the release of their EP on a national tour, which kicked off at Lyttelton Coffee Company last weekend. Ticket information for the remaining tour dates can be found here.

Before their fourth studio album, Sungazer, arrives on July 10th, The Temper Trap release new single “These Arms”.

Featuring a soaring chorus of group vocals and a driving drum groove, “These Arms” went through multiple iterations before it settled into its final form with help from producer Styalz Fuego.

“‘These Arms’ is a song about being a place someone can return to. Not a way out, not an answer, just something solid when everything else starts to slip,” Dougy Mandagi says.

“The demo was really chill and almost Radiohead-influenced. It centred on the pre-chorus line of “into these arms of mine,” which became a kind of delicate mantra. When we took it into the studio though, Styalz flipped it on its head and suddenly it became super groovy and bombastic. I still have a soft spot for the original but this final version packs a real punch.”