9 Apr 2016

Street Chant

From RNZ Music, 2:00 pm on 9 April 2016
Street Chant (L-to-R: Emily Littler, Billie Rogers, Christopher Varnham)

Street Chant (L-to-R: Emily Littler, Billie Rogers, Christopher Varnham) Photo: Hadley Donaldson

In a revealing essay penned for The Pantograph Punch last September, Street Chant’s Emily Littler documented a litany of difficulties she faced while trying to finish the band’s much delayed second LP: "Writers’ block, poor band dynamics, substance abuse problems... you name it."

After a series of false starts, Street Chant have delivered the album, the follow-up to 2010's Means. Hauora sees Littler wrestle with the reality of life back on home turf after time spent on the road.

"I lost my mind a bit making it," Littler admits. "I was living in the house which is on the cover and I recorded it all there. There was rats running through the walls of that house, ­ and I felt like there was rats running through the walls of my brain."

Emily and bandmate Billie Rogers talk Sam Wicks through Hauora's laboured delivery – first though, they check in with 3News weather presenter and friend, Kanoa Lloyd, about the pronunciation.

MUSIC DETAILS

Artist: Street Chant
Song: Refreshead, Hauora Forever, The Good Room, Insides, Never, Pedestrian Support League, One More Year
Composer: Street Chant
Album: Hauora
Label: Arch Hill Recordings

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Street Chant in session at Roundhead Studios

Street Chant on their 2010 album debut, Means

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