Wairunga vinyl

Wairunga is a Kiwi beauty spot that's long been one of the favoured locations for Fat Freddy's Drop to kick back between tours and recording sessions. It's fitting then that the long-serving New Zealand collective have named their new album in its honour. The set itself showcases the band at their very best, delivering their usual attractive fusions of dub, reggae and soul, in which Joe Dukie's effortlessly soulful vocals rise above warming bass, heady electronics, crisp guitars and hazy horns. It's diverse enough to fend off any accusations that they're resting on their laurels, but also familiar enough to please the band's vast army of fans. In other words, it's a Fat Freddy's Drop album, and a rather good one at that.