Lunavela pairs witty, observant lyricism with a euphoric ’80s inspired chorus on return single Six-out-of-ten-friend.
Lunavela is the latest musical endeavour from Steve Mathieson, New Zealand singer-songwriter and former frontman of Collapsing Cities.
For the recent tongue-in-cheek single, Six-out-of-ten-friend, Mathieson teams up with drummer Alistair Deverick (Boycrush) and bassist Hannan Carter (Steriogram), for a blissful dose of cruisy acoustic pop, that sets “better boundaries with people who don’t get you”.
Beginning with a steady bass riff and some snare-heavy drum work, Lunavera marches through the motions, collecting reasons as to why his friend isn’t anyone to ride home about. From “feeling jaded” when hanging to them, to them only calling when they “want something”, all these realisations feel all too familiar.
We all have that one mate in the friend group that’s just sort of there. There’s no real emotional connection and you’re both too different to bother trying.
“It’s not a misanthropic song”, Lunavera clarifies. It’s more about “that awkward conversation of small talk in a pet food aisle of Tesco with an ex-work colleague, music punisher or an ex-girlfriend’s husband“. Ooft indeed.
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It’s this pleasant acceptance of this awkwardness that gives Six-out-of-ten-friend its charm. The dreamy soundscape matches this sentiment perfectly, with colourful electrics filling out the top end as the acoustic strums into the sunset.
We can’t understate the marching drums in the track either, grounding all the other dreamy instrumentation into a hook structure worthy of singing along to.
Flick this tune on and raise a glass to that ex-workmate who was just painfully average.
Listen to Six-out-of-ten-friend below:
