You may have heard about a new band called Opossom… or Opossum? Wait, let’s not get confused.
Opossum, noun; american prehensile-tailed marsupial from the Didelphidae family, of the eastern US.
Opossom, band; new project from New Zeland by Mint Chicks’s previous member Kody Nielson.
Any resemblance is purely coincidental.
After eight years fronting New Zealand’s acclaimed “trouble gum art punks” The Mint Chicks, Kody Nielson unveils his new project, Opossom, with the captivating album Electric Hawaii, coming out August 6 on Fire Records. Pre-order Electric Hawaii now on iTunes.
And why the name Opossom? It seems the mental escape from daily life during the creation of Electric Hawaii produced Kody’s nocturnal instinctive animal… feisty, vicious and enigmatically cute.
Home-written, recorded and mixed by Kody himself, Electric Hawaii is not the singer-songwriter solo album of a former punk rock band singer. Joined by Bic Runga in the role of chanteuse and multi-instrumentalist, and former fellow Mint Chick Michael Logie on bass guitar duties, Electric Hawaii is a further exploration of Kody’s musical journey into a lively, engaging world of carefully crafted sonic layers of light and dark, incorporating some of his personal Polynesian background with his blend of beatnik psychodelia.
The first single, “Blue Meanies“ is a synch-led, bass heavy psych odyssey with a surreal, semi-animated video shot amid beautiful woodland scenery, featuring fantastical creatures, adventurous hikers and golden Buddhas with laser beam eyes. Check out the video below, also featured on Impose Magazine, and let us know what you think in the comments!
