WHO'S NEXT: Bannerman

Armed with a syrupy, whisky-like voice, and, as he describes it, "a fascination with dark places," and "a sense of really strong, imaginative storytelling," Aucklander Richard Setford is Bannerman. He’s previously completed stints with both Batucada Sound Machine and One Million Dollars, seemingly out of step with the filmic, narrative driven, country/folk soundworld of Bannerman, if you look at it from a reductionist point of view.

It isn’t though, and on his debut album The Dusty Dream Hole (a continuation of his self-titled Bannerman EP), Richard erects a metaphorical barbed wire fence between the Antipodean funk of his past, and the dark fantasy world of his present. Fluent in voice, guitar, piano and ukulele, Richard grew up in sleepy rural Marton before moving to Auckland at age 11. With a guitarist for a father and a brass-playing grandfather who was a member of Dannevirke's finest WW2 era band ("he used to entertain the American troops”), Richard exists in a three generation deep local musical continuum. "It's nice to have some vindication that there is some lineage there", he admits. "[For ages with my music] I was like, where has this come from?" Having formed this Bannerman concept back in 2005 while he was on the dole, with ample time and daily access to his flatmate’s home recording rig, these days Richard divides his time between music and working at amplifier.co.nz - a leading local digital download outlet.

Having called upon a breadbasket of local musicians such as Flip Grater, members of Batucada Sound Machine and others to realise The Dusty Dream Hole and perform it live, thanks to intensive recording Richard already has the body of his next record Dearly Departed sitting in the can. And while he focusses on the darker side of things in his songs, given his need to, he reveals, "offer a redemptive side to each song", Richard understands dark can't exist without light. As he concludes, "They don't work without each other, they need to be together to function".

Listen at: www.myspace.com/nzbannerman

By Martyn Pepperell