01 August 2024 - 0 Comments

The first single by Spinning Lights The Terrace Tunnel is a post-punk lament for a city in a state of decline. The Te Whanganui-a-tara trio dearly love the place, but have captured the indignation of locals at the mis-management of the capital’s urban centre.

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From the intro, interspersed with dripping water, the track dissolves into a series of distinctive dissonant growls, intentionally echoing the engines that push us from a safe speed towards disaster at the last bend of State Highway One. Then the verse drops, and the venting starts.

“The inspiration came about when returning to the city from a couple of days away. The tunnel entrance had always been like the doorstep before a warm homecoming. But this time something was off - like I wasn’t welcome anymore - but worse, like no-one was. From there it wasn’t much of a stretch to link this landmark to dereliction via its controversial construction (through the Bolton Street Cemetery) and the post-Covid infrastructure woes of a leaking city.”

There is a healthy caravan of New Zealand songs that tie sound to a place - from The Formulyula's 1970 Otaki to Anthonie Tonnon’s 2021 Mataura Paper Mill. Spinning Lights have vandalised The Mutton Bird’s saccharine vision of Wellington, smashing out a song darker and much more dystopian.

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