And Taranaki delivers for me once again. TwinTiger, those high performers from New Plymouth, have hit me right in my 1980s with new single For The Best.

This is their forthcoming single, and I cannot wait for the vid and to watch it fly. We have an awesomely energetic song, driven by a deep, cohesive bottom end with Marc Gernhoefer‘s drums and Nate Betteridge‘s bass in close symbiosis. Vocalist Craig Jones covers guitars and we hear that legendary Nile Rodgers rhythm riff/strum synonymous with so much of the era, coupled with his upper-Baritone. That’s the perfect range if you want to make this genre family sound authentic, by the way.

Backing vocals augment the performance on vocals nicely, placed in the right spots, at the right mix volume. Now I come to Codes Hoskin on the keys. This is the piece of the song that grabs it and throws it into the stratosphere for me. The whole band is spot on, but the tone, settings, and performance of the band’s ivory tinkler marks the man as someone special in his preferred choice of tools. Outstanding.

It’s such a catchy number. The lyrics appear to be about splitting up, but the band say no. From the EPK they say it’s actually about choosing love, and not to hang onto something that is more fantasy than reality. Cool concept.

This will definitely be a live favourite. It has a lot of verve. If I were to pull a few bands from the 80s that this particular track could have been written by, I would say maybe the Icicle Works, Talk Talk, the Associates. It’s got a groove that’s undeniably Indie, with that wonderfully happy 1982 to 84 blend thrown in.

The Taranaki region sends me a LOT of premier league material. TwinTiger is undisputably in that league. I’ve got visions of listening to this on my commute to Welly, or in the car running round my South Wairarapa home region. This would fit in with your gym playlist. Anything, really. Release date for Spotify is 15th May.

Keep them coming TwinTiger. I’m a huge fan. Definitely a happening band.