ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Haunted Love

Back in 2009, we introduced you to Haunted Love in the Who's Next section in the magazine. Herein, we reconnect with the duo, giving you the lowdown on their debut album.

Back in the 1970s, the title ‘Haunted Love’ was associated with a series of now vintage romantic horror comic books for teenage girls. Now, in the twenty elevens, Haunted Love also serves as the bandname of an indie RnB duo from Dunedin - Geva Downey and Rainy McMaster - who draw influence from that comic book series.

Centred around Downey and McMaster’s longstanding super-friendship, Haunted Love’s songs balance immaculately matched vocal arrangements with a divergent range of ornate instrumentation. Drawing influence from - or expressing admiration for the music of - the Nolans, the Bird and the Bee, Fleetwood Mac, Stef Animal, the Clean and Ed Cake, Haunted Love made their formal recorded debut back in 2009 with a tasteful EP named Darkness In Diamond City. While Darkness In Diamond City, and the performances associated with it, impressed, on their debut album - with production assistance from local legend Ed Cake (formerly of Bressa Creeting Cake) - the act blow things out of the ballpark.

Haunted Love - San Domenico

On songs like 'Alonso Phillipe', glossy, chrome-plated instrumentation and moody incidental atmospherics collide with narrative driven songwriting that stretches tonally, with a sense of rnb classicism. Similarly, numbers like 'Love Underwater' and 'Teenage Fever' shimmer sonically and verbally, delivering rewarding experiences for those who thrill in both musical textures and lyrical content. Speaking from Auckland, the city to which Downey relocated seven months ago, the girls cite the connection between the Haunted Love comics and their music as strong - yet not completely all-consuming.

"Those comics were often about seduction, either being the seducer or the one seduced," Downey explains. "It wasn't laden with a whole bunch of sex. It was more about the idea of being whisked away to this fantastical world. Or introducing a fantastical world to someone else."

"It was about something which opens up your life experience in a fantastical way," McMaster continues, pausing briefly to think. "In that way they will remain central to our songs, because whatever topics we choose to explore, they're always about something a little bit extra. A fantastical world, or animals, or magic, or sci-fi."

Haunted Love - Librarian

Having originally met sometime around 2005, when they were both working as security guards at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the two built a fast growing, strong friendship. Bonding over - aside from their musical and pulp literature tastes - a mutual love of the films of David Lynch, their music emerged as an outgrowth of association. Coupled with Dunedin's almost pictorial landscapes, their ghostly, haunted sensibility makes perfect sense.

"The environment of Dunedin helped shape our music as well," McMaster reflects. "We both really love the harbour. It is quite a magical part of Dunedin and, aesthetically, that was a big part of our EP. Dunedin has a bit of a magic to it. That sounds a bit loopy to say, but you really cannot deny it." And, with Dunedin being of a size where, as McMaster continues, "you have a real sense of community and feel ownership over that," this feeling of existing in another world was only amplified.

In 2007, while touring the country, Auckland indie pop band the Brunettes requested Haunted Love as a support act in Dunedin. Tagging along for the ride to do sound was Ed Cake. After the show, Cake emailed Downey and McMaster to inform them that if they wanted to make an album, he would be happy to produce it. The girls jumped at the opportunity and began making regular trips up to Auckland to work with him.

"We would save up just enough to cover flights, feeding, our rents, (go up there and) do a little bit [with him], then come back down," Downey recalls. With life getting in the way, the process was long, but the possibilities were tangible. "Once we were in it, and we could see how it was going to turn out - even just glimpses - there was no way we would have abandoned it," McMaster elaborates.

Working with Cake at Platform Studios on Queen Street, the first sign things were going to go well was the discovery that Lucy Lawless, better known to the girls as Xena: Warrior Princess, owned the studio. Working in an informal manner with Cake, they juxtaposed cooking roast chickens in microwaves - or making meals in other wacky ways - with relaxed recording, slowly but surely yielding results. They did also manage to get hit by a car on Queen Street during one of the sessions though. "We were just little Dunedin girls and we were in a hurry to get to the two dollar shop and we jaywalked across and got hit by a car," McMaster laughs. "We didn't get hurt but it was so embarrassing, we were so shamed out."

Record close to complete, it became time to secure a record deal. In this department, much as they had with their record producer, the girls lucked out proper. Firstly, in terms of art direction, impossibly talented New Zealand photographer Yvonne Todd (who they describe as, “one of our favourite Kiwi artists”), agreed to handle their cover, which was a massive coup in itself.

Secondly, after a discussion with Mushroom Music Publishing's general manager Paul McLaney, McMaster and Downey got their music in the ear of esteemed local record label Round Trip Mars head honcho Jim Pinckney. Pinckney was so impressed with the quality of the Haunted Love demos that he rejigged his year plan to work them into a cycle which has seen him release a stunning series of records from Scratch 22, the Vietnam War, Tourettes and She's So Rad.

With almost all of their snooker balls lined up for a sinker, the only potential hitch left in the equation is the fact they now live in different cities. From their point of view though, it ain't nothing. McMaster explains, "We're both in relationships that are very important to us now. We need to be happy first and foremost, but when it comes to us, and our music, we'll always find a way to see each other."

Haunted Love's new album Spirit Revival is out now.