Phoebe Rings: Aseurai (digital outlets)

We come at this in reverse because when we went to see the American band Japanese Breakfast we were delighted to find that the opening act was Auckland's Phoebe Rings . . . and we had been listening to this new album (launched on the night) all day in anticipation of writing a review.

It's a damn good album as you may read, but on the night they were a little disappointing: they were hesitant and off-kilter for the first couple of songs (keyboard player/singer Crystal Choi stretched to the limit of her range it seemed) and things got off to a wobbly start.

They were also, of course, much louder and assertive than this album which negated some of the nuances the studio allows.

That said, they settled in and by the end had earned the loud applause.

So let's just address the album in hand by this sophisticated, local indie-pop band fronted by jazz school graduate Choi.

They signal their genre and intentions with soft pastel cover art and this debut album's title, a poetic phrase in Korea meaning a feeling that comes on slowly but leaves a lasting impression.

This album of dreamy, delicate pop touches on breathy European styles of the 1960s (the dreamy disco-influenced title track sung in Korean) and languid soft pop (Drifting) with wispy and crafted melodies.

But its not all spring blossoms and summer breezes: On the supple slo-mo disco-funk of Get Up bassist Ben Locke speak-sings of struggles with mental health and the indolence it brings; the yacht-pop Fading Star is about someone exactly that; the drifting Mandarin Tree looks at the housing crisis.

There's a frisson of loss in many places, not immediately evident because the lavish and lush Aseurai has an urbane, late-night wine bar elegance.

Guitar/synthesiser player Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent, Locke and drummer/producer Alex Freer bring previous experience with Princess Chelsea, Fazerdaze, Bub, Tiny Ruins and numerous jazz and pop sessions.

It's an unusual synthesis of international ingredients from smooth jazz, bossa nova, mainstream Korean pop, slightlydelic disco and more in a country where most pop and rock is distilled from limited and familiar ingredients.

On the record, quite something.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here.