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““I’m mute, I’m rimu, I’m loyal,” proclaims a coffee table in Secret Lives of Furniture, a song delivered from the point of view of a chattel in love with its owner, despite the beer stains and cigarette burns she’s inflicted down the years” (Sunday Star Times, 2015). On debut album Bacterium, Look at Your Motor Go, Ha the Unclear weave together self-reflection and absurdist narratives, along with tales of frustration and anxiety into alt-pop ditties. After starting out in Dunedin, New Zealand under various bedroom project guises (Brown, Baraka and the Finish Hims) songwriter Michael Cathro spent a period of time writing and performing in Ireland before relocating to Auckland in 2012. Meanwhile, remaining group members Paul Cathro, Ben Sargeant and Theo Francis migrated northward to work on a hydroponic lettuce farm in the Bay of Plenty before the band relocated to Auckland in full in 2015. Recorded at Dunedin’s Albany Street Studios and produced by Oli Wilson (The Chills)

Michael Cathro is joined by bassist Paul Cathro, drummer Ben Sargeant and guitarist Theo Francis. Ha the Unclear initially formed in 2010 under the moniker Baraka and the Finish Hims and released a string of bedroom albums and EPs of unvarnished guitar pop. Skewed and catchy, delivered with unaffected accents and constructed with a blend of off-kilter pop, output teeters on the fence of the strange and the familiar. Layered and lucid, the lyrics are awash in backing vocals indebted to the 50s and 60s. The story-pop subject matter ranges from anthropomorphic coffee tables and ageing regret to adolescent reflections and partying with capitalists. Releases include bedroom recordings Brown (2010), Mould EP (2011), Animal Diseases & Suspicious Packages EP (2011) and demo releases Mannequins (2012) and Burn the Boats (2013). Ha the Unclear also have releases through 'The Attic' on The Attic Singles Club and compilations It Came From the Attic and Nature's Worst Vol. 3. When quizzed on