Wairunga (Double Gatefold LP)

Wairunga finds the Freddy juggernaut digging deep to debut five songs and revisit two classics captured in an outdoor performance sans audience, with wild weather elements playing an important creative role.

Wairunga, deep in Ngāti Kahungunu country, is a place etched into the DNA of Fat Freddy's Drop who've roamed here for over 20 years; to party, relax between tours, make a song in its honour, and even to get married. Farmed by the Parker family for a century, Wairunga is an oasis of green pasture and native tree-filled valleys that fall away to the ocean below.

Freddy's and their sound and visual recording crews set up on a grass tennis court surrounded by a bush backdrop. The weather was calm but as the performance progressed into night, the elements turned with tempest-like bursts of rain and chill winds. Freddy's dug deep to finish the session - nothing could stop the bush energy and music.

The Wairunga session was recorded by Freddy's long-time sound engineer Richard McMenamin of Western Audio. Freddy's beat maker and master producer Fitchie (aka MU) processed and crafted the live Wairunga audio recordings at BAYS studio while Calyx Studio in Berlin nailed the final mastering.