Sean James Donnelly, known to many by the initials SJD, has a new project, the Pajama Club. With Neil Finn on drums, his wife Sharon Finn on bass and former Grates drummer Alana Skyring on percussion, it's a group boasting what a bookie might call "form" or "pedigree".
Donnelly, too, is no slouch: he has released several innovative albums, including 2007 effort Songs from A Dictaphone, which reached No 11 on the New Zealand album charts and included Beautiful Haze, a track that was nominated for the Silver Scroll songwriting award the same year (as was I Will Not Let You Down, penned by Donnelly for Don McGlashan's 2006 album Warm Hand.
Now, Donnelly is looking forward to the release of a new album, the Pajama Club's self-titled debut, which brims with loops, fuzzed-out basslines and is defined by an accent on gritty, stripped-back grooves.
Though it might not seem too much a departure for Donnelly, whose electronic dabblings are as eclectic as they are extensive, it is certainly a departure from Finn's usual fare.
"Neil and Sharon had a couple of reference points," Donnelly explains from Auckland, his hometown.
"Perhaps the biggest one was early 1980s Bronx band ESG [Emerald, Sapphire and Gold], a bunch of sisters who were very limited players, but what they did they did really well. They were a lot of fun.
"There was a lot of attention to harmony and melody, but it was important to maintain that infectious vibe. We were careful to maintain what dirty vibe there was. And if there wasn't any, we were careful to add some.
"I think there are lots of bright colours on the album and I think it succeeds in a way some of my music hasn't. Pajama Club manages to be a bit smarter and a bit more fun."
The album reflects Pajama Club's jam-band ethos, says Donnelly, adding he wasn't even present when the project first began.
He was invited to add his input about 18 months ago, after Neil and Sharon Finn found themselves home alone, their two sons, Liam and Elroy, musicians in their own right, having headed off on their own career tangents.
With time, a supply of red wine, various musical instruments and a 16-track tape recorder at their disposal, the Finns embarked on some late-night musical musings.
"They decided they'd liked what they had done. They wanted another ear - my sort of ear."
On his introduction to the Finns' latest collection of music, Donnelly found plenty of ideas but few fully-formed songs.
"They were bass and drum tracks. End of story, really. There were a couple of tracks that were not actually songs; they had guitar, keyboard and vocal noodlings. They were songs in a protoplasmic form. Some of the songs were only a minute long. Some were just loops.
"My job was to get in and extend them out and give them some form so Neil could take them away and do some melodies or lyrical ideas. We'd jam them out in the studio. There was a lot of very productive jamming going on. I'd be there making suggestions or I'd take something away to tweak it or deconstruct it.
"Things were recorded as we did them. That's the nature of this kind of music and it's always been the nature of my music. When an idea is going well, then you record it; if it doesn't work, then you re-record it. Basically, the recording is the composition and vice-versa."
Donnelly describes his role in the project as that of a producer, though the delineation is sometimes a little murky. Collaborative is probably the best description. He puts forward lead single Tell Me What You Want as an example:
"I seem to remember it was just a jam they'd had. I don't think they were particularly enamoured with it, but I thought it had a really strong swing. I took it away and put some plonky keyboards over the top of it and worked out a harmony in the chorus.
"Neil is a world-class songwriter. You can't help but watch how some of that is done. As well, he is a fantastic musician. Sharon is really talented, too. I feel privileged to be part of the project."
Now, that jam band has gone from toying around to being a fully-fledged live group, touring Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom in recent months. To mark the release of its album, the Pajama Club is playing two New Zealand shows (Wellington and Auckland only) later this month.
"It feels like a new band rather than an off-shoot project," Donnelly emphasises.
"About three months back we did our first gig, for friends at Roundhead [the Auckland studio owned by Finn] and we immediately headed to Australia for some concerts. Then we headed to the United States and to England and played some gigs over there.
"It is one of those things that is fun; it's good music, but who knows if it will be successful. I think it deserves to be."