A live act charged with formidable tension, New Zealand experimental indie-rockers Dear Time’s Waste have played support for the much feted Deerhunter, Woelv and Cut off your Hands. After six solid months recording in a rambling hospice, the talented outfit have released debut EP Room for Rent - a vast, visceral record which toes the thin line between hooks and hypnotism.

Alternately murky and ethereal, amorphous and incisive, shot through with Sonic Youth-esque guitar squall, the morbidly introspective drum sounds of Velvet Underground productions, and the abstract sonic richness of former tour-mates Deerhunter, Room For Rent’s willfully cryptic first half opens with a psych-out, both musically and mentally.

Galvanizing title track “Room For Rent” kicks of with a foreboding bassline, low-end keyboards, paranoid drums and vocal effects, careening towards an increasingly chaotic climax, as layers of texture are gradually added off in the distance.

However, giving way to swooning dream-pop and comparatively lucid songwriting, “Clandestine” and “Polaria” proves the sugar that helps the reverb-heavy overdrive go down, with softer piano and acoustic guitar arrangements all the better to hear stunning vocalist Claire Duncan’s unique clear and frail vocals.

Ranging from translucent psych-pop to slow-burning garage-rock, Dear Time’s Waste is alternately assured and vulnerable, direct and subtle, light and dark. While Room For Rent is nothing more - and nothing less- than five songs, lasting a total of just more than 15 minutes, there’s something about this bittersweet sound collage which is sure to haunt listeners for much longer.

Review Score: 9/10