When you think New Zealand, you think cheap jokes, the Finn Brothers and Flight of the Conchords. It's not normally a nation associated with forward-thinking, widescreen electro-pop – and yet here we are, in 2010, with possibly the best new band from the country in question creating that very sound. The Naked and Famous had a hit on their hands earlier this year with their outstanding single “Young Blood” topping the charts at home (the first NZ act to do so since 2007) and reaching a global audience through radio and television. Now, with their debut album Passive Me, Aggressive You following suit with a New Zealand #1 and a sellout Australian tour under their belts, the band might seem like an overnight sensation, but it's founding member Thom Powers who is quick to put that idea to rest.

“We started quite a while back, actually,” he says. “As far of the success that we've had overseas and whatnot, it has been incredibly out of the blue. But yeah, we've been writing and working on ideas in the group since about 2008 – we released our first few EPs over here and started playing live around that time. So we've had awhile to kind of work on the idea of the album, but I guess the album itself and the incarnation of the band as it is now has really taken off – it's out of our hands, and it's pretty bizarre, but it's also kind of wonderful.”

If there was any time for the band to be discovered beyond their homeland, Powers is notably thankful that it was on the back of Passive Me, Aggressive You. It is a bold, engaging album that he is especially proud of.

“The album is definitely a huge step up in all directions for all of us, personally,” he affirms. “Where we are now, to me, makes sense as an evolution from where we started. The type of album that we've made is a lot more serious and challenging in terms of production and the type of songwriting. We just sort of expanded on everything we had attempted with our EPs – there's always been kind of a grand-plan behind our music, even in the presentation of things like artwork and sequencing.”

The grand scheme especially came together for the aforementioned single, “Young Blood”. The video has racked up over 800,000 views on YouTube, and has been added to high rotation to both alternative and mainstream radio in Australia. Interestingly, Powers makes note of the fact that, in spite of the band often slaving over songs to reach full perfection, the creation of “Young Blood” was a contrastingly organic experience.

“Some songs take longer than others because there's no endgame and no limits to what you can do with your songwriting when you're running the studio yourself,” comments Powers. “You have to make the call and say that you're not touching it anymore. 'Young Blood' was kind of a standalone thing, in that it was written and produced pretty much A to B – there wasn't a lot of revision. Everything just came up at the right time, and it was exciting because we were on a creative roll and before you know it, it's finished.”

At first, the band felt it too good to be true – especially considering the work that was placed into other specific tracks on Passive Me, Aggressive You. In particular, Thom recalls working on album cuts “No Way”: “That took a long time to come into the way that it is now” - as well as “The Sun” - “It was sort of written after the second EP was released, so it spend a really long time in development.” Thankfully, however, they left it and cemented what is quite possibly the standout moment of their small but powerful discography.

The national attention on the band following their sellout Australian tour will continue in January when the band returns as a part of the Big Day Out festival. “It's pretty insane!” says Thom with a laugh. “We're really excited – I grew up listening to Tool. They were the band that got me into rock and roll music so I'm just gonna try and follow them around.”

Sure, it's not Lateralus, but you might just see Maynard James Keenan bopping along when The Naked and Famous travel across the country as a part of the Big Day Out for 2011.