For Dunedin's Sarah McGaughran, the bravery and impetus to start a musical outlet of her own came after years of feeling inspired by those around her, coupled with a frustration at not seeing enough female musicians on local stages.
McGaughran's project, called Perry Buoy, is an attempt to make the music she enjoys, while offering a bit of therapy for herself in the process.
"It's quite scary to be a woman musician, but I can't complain about it if I'm a musician and too scared to get on stage myself,'' she says.
"I've been playing piano for 12 years now, and that's always been a huge crutch and emotional outlet for me, and it's cool to have something that's not only playing music, but also creating it myself. Having people enjoy it is another added bonus.''
While she's only been working under the moniker for a couple of months, she's already honing in on her sound, drawing from Embedded Figures and Grimes for her complete authorship of her own music, her own sounds, and her own story.
McGaughran calls her sound "a little German dark wave''.
"I've just got my wee synth and a drum machine, and my vocal,'' she says.
"It's really stripped back. [It's] like pop music with its toys taken away. It's synthesis, electronic vibes but a little bit slowed down and a little groovy. By just having my synthesizer, I'm quite limited, but in a good way. I can only play four voices at a time, and I have to think about what I'm doing. I can't hide behind layers and walls.''
Perry Buoy's emergence comes at a time when some see the Dunedin music scene as in flux, re-orienting and redefining itself in the wake of raft of venue closures.
"The venue closures in Dunedin have shaken things up a bit. It's not the same bands playing at the same places every weekend. If you want to make music you just have to use what's available.
"There's a bit of a fire under everyone's butt at the moment, to keep the scene happening. Everyone's dissatisfied and they want to change stuff, to change the scene, and people are building stepping stones towards that.''
Perry Buoy will play her third show in support of Christchurch melodic doom three-piece The (H)ex Waves and the organic Casio electro of Simon Maclaren's (of the Subliminals) Funeral Orgies tonight the Crown Hotel.
WORTHY RELEASES
There's been a couple of Dunedin Bandcamp releases worth mentioning this week.
Youngsters The Only Others call themselves "indie stuff'', but there are some nice elements of lounging jazz here too.
The guitar voicing alternates between ornate and jangling and overdriven, bombastic alternative rock, while the vocals are ambitious in their sweeping figures in a manner that reminds me of the Violet Ohs' Nick Tipa and New Gum Sarn's Oscar Dowling.
The King of the Broken Snowglobe EP is available via the "name your price'' scheme on Bandcamp.
Also this week, Dunedin psych space outfit The Shifting Sands has offered a demo version of Dennis Wilson's Lady.
Built on a chirpy drum machine, guitarists Michael McLeod and Tom Bell swap the whimsy and surfy orchestration of Wilson's much loved original for an earthier, psychedelic, mellower approach.
They say they've got an EP in the pipeline so stay tuned.
The gig, the music
• (H)ex Waves, Funeral Orgies and Perry Buoy, tonight at the Crown Hotel. Doors at 8pm.
• The Only Others' The King of the Broken Snowglobe EP is available via Bandcamp. theonlyothers.bandcamp.com/
• The Shifting Sands' Lady is available via Bandcamp. theshiftingsands.bandcamp.com/
