The Straitjacket Fits were one of my favourite bands in the first years of university. Probably the seminal ‘Flying Nun’ band, the then stamp of indie music from New Zealand, their sound was raw and sweet and fitted nicely alongside My Bloody Valentine on the record shelf. The Fits disbanded in 1993 and it wasn’t until fellow Kiwi, Stinky Jim who runs the Round Trip Mars label in Auckland came over to Sydney with some music in 2000 that I became aware of the new project of Fits’ main man Shayne Carter called Dimmer. Jim had brought with him a pre-release of Dimmer’s debut I Believe You Are A Star. Eventually released in 2001 it became a huge hit in New Zealand, followed in 2004 by You’ve Got To Hear The Music. It All Looks The Same At Night is a compilation of the ‘best’ of both those two albums and comes packaged with a DVD of all seven clips of the ‘singles’. When the Fits finished, Carter set about setting up Dimmer as a project where he could do everything himself. Inspired by the electronic music scene of the 90s he released a few tentative singles and then settled into writing some great noir-ish pop in the vein of Massive Attack. Bringing in collaborators such as Round Trip Mars producer/songwriter SJD as well as Bic Runga and Anika Moa and Fat Freddy’s Drop, Dimmer showcases the strength of Carter’s song writing and his range of vocal delivery over some slick midnight grooves. An excellent pop album.
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