First Single from Auckland's Wax Chattels

Wax Chattels by Guillaume Beaubatwix 

"Stay Disappointed"

Brooklyn label Captured Tracks and New Zealand's Flying Nun have had a label partnership for the last five years. On the fifth anniversary of that partnership, the labels finally came together to jointly sign Auckland, New Zealand trio Wax Chattels.

Captured Tracks' Mike Sniper saw just three songs from a Wax Chattels festival set; and, after agreeing with Flying Nun's Ben Howe that Wax Chattels were "the band," the labels had their first joint signing less than 24 hours later.

Wax Chattels don't have a guitar. The band combine keys, bass, and a two-piece drum set to produce dark, rhythmic post-punk. They just released their first single in the form of "Stay Disappointed," and it is jittery and jagged with the keyboards lending a kind of foreboding feel to the whole thing. Wax Chattels are something new for those of us who associate New Zealand and, especially, Flying Nun, with pristine and jangly guitar pop.