While most of us were tucked up in bed, three-fifths of Auckland band Pluto - Mike Hall, Mike Franklin-Browne and Matthias Jordan - got to work on a side-project that, since its release a few months ago, has created more than a few quiet ripples around the country.
Now the trio, along with guitarist and producer Jol Mulholland (The Mots) and bass player Nick Buckton (Sidekick Nick, Voom), are hitting the road for a mini-tour of the major centres, including a gig at Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers, on Friday, September 3.
A key reason for the tour has been the strong reaction to 24 Hours Of Night. Had critics not widely applauded the band's relaxed and restrained approach on a selection of alt-country songs, Hall would probably have "crawled into a hole", he admits.
"I think the main reason for the tour is we have a good band. Because the record has been well-received, hopefully people will want to see us live.
"The live show is another interesting part of the band, because the way the record started was completely in reverse. I didn't even know if we would play again," explains the Pluto bassist, who has turned his hand to acoustic and electric guitar for his latest project.
Encouraged to further explore the songs he had sitting on his computer's hard drive, Hall fleshed them out with fellow Pluto members Franklin-Browne (drums) and Jordan (keyboards) and a few others. They then headed to Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios for three days.
"Plenty of pre-production had been done ... it was quick," Hall recalls. "In Pluto, we tend to write a lot collaboratively. I think some of these songs might've started off as ideas I had taken in, but then they didn't fit with Pluto and I chose to work on them myself and bring the guys in.
"From then, it started to have its own life. Once it was complete, we thought perhaps we should have a band. It wasn't until we had the finished product that we thought it was good enough to warrant doing live versions of the songs."
As for Hall and company's main band, Pluto is about halfway through recording a new album, having reached a point at which members are working out what to complete and what to discard.
The day after Nightchoir's short tour, Hall, Franklin-Browne and Jordan will join Tim Arnold and fellow guitarist, songwriter and singer Milan Borich in the studio as they work towards an album (tentatively) due to be released early next year.
Hall says his favourite records possess both melody and a little mystery, often in the form of intricate touches that only become apparent over repeated listenings. Thus 24 Hours Of Night doesn't reveal all its tricks at once.
Songs rise and fall, small hooks float in and out, and an attention to texture and tone is most evident in its warm keyboards, delicate acoustic guitars and relaxed vocal interplay.
"I love when you put a record on and listen on your headphones and all of a sudden notice details that you didn't hear before," Hall says.
"I tend to write relatively simple chord progressions and so I indulge a fair bit in trying to develop hooks with those structures.
"A lot of it was an eye-opener for me because I haven't played a huge amount of electric guitar, so my first step was to get tones I was happy with. I have had the luxury of playing with some pretty amazing guitar players and have taken notice of the sounds I've enjoyed.
"Jol Mulholland, who is a great guitar player, mixed the record and he had an incredible ear for which were the most important hooks. Guys in the band kept telling me to focus on the melody," Hall says.
"I think for the first record of a side project that potentially had no future, that was really sound advice."
• Hear them
- Nightchoir plays at Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers, on Friday, September 3.
- 24 Hours Of Night is released on 1157 Records.
