Awning

Awning is a band that works on instinct. In a short span of time, they’ve grown from lead singer and guitarist Christian Dimick’s solo project into a fully collaborative five-piece band without much forethought or maneuvering. The Auckland, New Zealand band’s new single, “Little Green Book,” lives on that same gut feel: a post-punk bassline punctuated by dissonant spasms, Dimick snarling through a capped-out microphone.

The song is, Dimick says, “cryptic in its lyrical imagery. I like the way children write poetry. This song is about taking the perspective of my childhood self from a lyrical space and watching someone struggle with grief. But this is not necessarily for the audience to understand. They can pull what they want from it.”

Awning began a handful of years ago, as Dimick was finishing his fine arts degree at Massey University in Wellington. When he graduated and moved to Auckland shortly after, it grew into something more collaborative–now joined by Riley Noonan, a friend and musical collaborator since childhood, on drums, Eli Chamberlain and Ethan Broughton on guitar, and Damin McCabe on bass. Their self-titled release from last year marked the beginning of a new and more collaborative era, built on extemporaneous inspiration.

Dimick, now an acclaimed visual artist in New Zealand and Australia, believes that spontaneity has carried across from his painting and drawing. “I've studied painting, and I still paint all the time in a really intuitive and playful kind of way,” he says. “I think that way of thinking about creating, making, and composing something has trickled into the way I think about writing music. Ideas come and you interact with them. If they don’t work, it’s not about trying to hold them and squeeze them and strangle some sort of juice out of them.”

That spontaneous feel is all over the dynamic “Little Green Book,” evidence that the band trusts their first thought in the practice space and the studio. When an idea arrives, the band knows not to “hold them and squeeze them and strangle some sort of juice out of them,” says Dimick. “If things are meant to work in that moment, then they do. If they don't, then that's okay as well.”

PRESS

Rolling Stone (AU/NZ): LIVE MUSIC REVIEW
“Awning’s songbook is sprawling — each time I’ve seen them, there’s a fresh batch of songs and ideas, leaving you wishing they brought back your favourite track from the last time you saw them.”
UNDER THE RADAR: Listen to Awning's Self-Titled Debut
“Frazzled and folk-tinted earworms, refreshingly unfussy and poetically clear-eyed, everything lands where it should.”
The post: Autoplay: Bands worth wrapping up and going out for
“They’re a fantastic band with a growing local fanbase of their own...Their sound is angular and guitar-driven, and makes for a killer live set.”
13th floor: Awning – Awning
“Awning are a rambunctious, raucous affair, drawing on alt-pop sensibility… conducted by Dimick’s vocal harmonies, characterized by signature falsettos, ethereal vulnerability and sentiment.”