Orangefarm

If you’ve spent time in the unhurried world of New Zealand indie rock in the past couple of decades, you might find something comforting, almost familiar about the music of Wellington band Orangefarm. It strolls forth with a skipping beat, a propulsive guitar strum, a gentle toot of French horn, all suggesting we’re all headed off somewhere cross country.

But as the lilting tune and the his/hers harmonies take hold, it’s apparent there’s something thorny going on. The music often deftly wraps lyrical barbs in its pop hooks: bittersweet, literate touches and moments where the deceptively low-key music is a framework for complicated emotions and some cosmic ideas.