When Dunedin songwriter Kane Strang's debut album, Flower Before the Bulb is Blown, was released last year, it immediately stood out as an excellent listen: wonderfully written, unique and poetic.
As Strang tells me, the record was recorded entirely in his bedroom, as he worked to meet his own high standards of performance.
''I pretty much just sat in my room and worked away at it for two months,'' he says.
''[At the time] I was working at a Thai restaurant where I always had split shifts, so I'd just go home and work on it.''
On top of the sleepy, twistingly catchy acoustic guitar melodies, and occasional bass, synth and piano featured on Flower, sits Strang's unique voice, and his witty, astute lyrics.
On songs such as Sealion, or Can You Cope With Mr Mope? he shows his ability to slide from perfectly describing social situations through metaphor to a series of great puns and wordplay you can't hear coming.
And across his work, there's a consistent insight, minute detail and construction that clearly show a care and love for language.
''Lyric writing is my favourite part [of writing],'' Strang enthuses.
''I'd always rather write a good lyric than a nice chord progression.
''[Flower] was just me coming out of high school into the real world y'know, and it's just me analysing that - trying to figure it out.
''I guess I wasn't in the best place and lyric writing is just such a good release. I love poetry - I'm like obsessed with it in a way. Just because it's instant, you don't need to add guitar to it, you just write it and it's finished. I have pages and pages of lyrics, and I just piece things together.
''I feel like the more I work on my lyrics the more people will be able to connect with them, or the more it'll mean if they do.''
Following on from the album and a subsequent collection of demos, Strang has just released a brand new track, Winded, available now from his Bandcamp page. The song was recorded in Dunedin art space The Attic with Adrian Ng, of the band Trick Mammoth.
''It's a really nice change for me, recording with someone else. There's the pressure of someone watching you record. It was just nice getting out of my room,'' Strang said.
The song also features some new instrumentation for Strang, electric singing saw and percussion both being introduced for the first time.
''It was just a bow on like a saw you cut planks with,'' he laughs.
''We just did two takes of this weird sound and put it over the bridge, but I really like it."
In less than a month, Strang will be experiencing something very different, when he makes Germany his home to spend a year abroad and hopefully perform across Europe.
''I'm really horrified by the whole thing to be honest,'' he says.
''I need to be shocked out of my routine here a little bit, get out of my confront zone."
Catch up: Kane Strang's new single Winded, and debut release Flower Before the Bulb is Blown, are available now for ''pay-as-you-like'' from his Bandcamp page kanestrang.bandcamp.com/. To watch his video for Tambourine Sun, and to keep up to date with Kane's European adventure visit www.facebook.com/kanejamesstrang
