19 January 2016 - 0 Comments

Following the success of their breakout self-titled EP and a series of captivating videos, Doprah is set to deliver their highly-anticipated debut album Wasting in February 2016, from the eerie, reed-filled depths of its conception. The six-piece will tour New Zealand with the new album, playing four shows around the country in February and March. 

Recorded over a period of three years following 2011’s Christchurch earthquake, the album’s atmosphere is dark, undulating and electric. Sounds throb, crack, glisten and weave across a genre-melting sonic landscape. “We're lost, but we're safe... and there's a strange peace to be found in this wasteland,” remarked Yours Truly magazine.

A child of the internet, Doprah was born from an online collaboration between Steven Marr and Indira Force, resulting in the self-titled EP which exploded on New Zealand student radio and beyond in 2014. “All hail the arrival of another odd-pop export from New Zealand,” waxed Spin magazine.

Since then, Doprah have released a number of cinematic music videos (including the J-pop inspired YouTube comment hotbed 'Stranger People'), sold out venues across their homeland, dipped their toes in Australian waters and journeyed to the other side of the world to play New York's CMJ Festival. The group have built a reputation as an entrancing six-piece live unit, every member utilized to achieve sonic detail, layering and depth worthy of their recordings. The effect is altogether dreamy, intense and immersive.

The new record sees the now six-piece band’s ethereal, trip-pop sound reach a new level of fidelity and cohesion, with credit due to the band’s principal producer Steven Marr. Liquid synthesizers and cavernous programmed beats are fused with traditional live instruments to create a trendless sound, uniquely Doprah. Floating among the instrumentation is Indira Force – a musician able to transmit emotion like few vocalists can, sometimes forgoing lyrics altogether in the Björk/Elizabeth Fraser vein of vocal envelope-pushing. Finishing tweaks were applied by esteemed mastering engineer Jamal Ruhe (Swans, Built to Spill).

No great album is complete without an equally great sleeve and the imagery for Wasting (conjured up by rising Wellington-based artist Ryan Achten) is suitably lysergic. Digital collage and three-dimensional modelling processes were used to visualize his personal take on the record's thematic and aural concepts.

Doprah’s LP Wasting is a visionary debut - a powerful statement of intent crafted by an unusually talented young band on a tiny island at the bottom of the world.

Wasting will be released digitally and on vinyl in February 19th 2016 in New Zealand. Tour dates and international release dates are to be announced soon. 

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 Doprah
Wasting
Arch Hill
19 February 2016

1. Will I Be A Figure Eight
2. Subaeruginosa
3. Borderline
4. Machinery
5. San Pedro
6. Wormhole
7. Wool
8. Lucid Visions
9. Stranger People
10. Omni
11. Black Lodge

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 What People Are Saying About Doprah

“Christchurch-based pair Doprah were nowhere on our radar until a friend of Best Fit pointed us in their direction. Boy, were we glad to hear them.” - The Line of Best Fit

"Beautifully understated compositions rooted in Radiohead's family of theremin synths and the weaving texture of male and female vocals.” -Pigeons and Planes

“Falling in love with Christchurch duo DOPRAH was a little bit like jumping into the ocean with bricks attached to my ankles (in the best possible way).” -Purple Sneakers

“Perfectly moody. Driven by that visceral chain-gang beat, and set against that Radiohead-esque baseline, you can't help but be hypnotized.” -Portals

“Like the roots of a tree that twist, turn and go everywhere they please, the psychedelic drug tripping sounds of Doprah on "San Pedro" not only go in the ground but they also root up and out into an ethereal haze of drug induced sonic waves.” -Hilly Dilly

“Doprah have drawn comparisons to Portishead and The xx which aren't entirely unwarranted.” - Brooklyn Vegan

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New Zealand 'Wasting' album tour

February 26 - Wellington // Valhalla
$15 pre sales available from E Tickets here

February 27 - Auckland // Golden Dawn
$5 Door sales only

March 4 - Christchurch// Christchurch Public Art Gallery
$15 Available from Christchurch Public Art Gallery website from January 25

 March 5 - Dunedin // Chicks Hotel
$15 pre sales available from E Tickets here

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