Lake South – We lived our lives on top of this (Home Alone)
Brendan McKenna, aka Lake South, occupies a socially conscious corner of the Aotearoa music landscape, crafting heartfelt, homespun songs that blend synth-folk melancholy with working-class idealism and a deep sense of place.
From his time with Urbantramper to his solo re-emergence in 2014, McKenna has chronicled a version of contemporary life shaped by rising rents, regional relocations, and quiet, enduring friendships. His latest album, We lived our lives on top of this, continues that mission with characteristic sincerity.
Recorded in part at a Department of Conservation hut in the Wairarapa, the album finds McKenna weaving personal recollection and political commentary into lo-fi, synth-streaked anthems. Where his earlier work sketched scenes of semi-urban nostalgia, here the focus is on stories of movement, both geographic and emotional. It is a record preoccupied with the mess of contemporary young adulthood: raising kids, losing jobs, watching friends drift away, or seeing a home become four townhouses. Yet even when it leans into melancholy, it remains quietly affirming. As he sings in Long grass, wet shoes, “People are weird / People are whole / People are worthy.”
“There are three times we die,” declares the opener To know this dirt, over a drum-led build that falls away into a confessional chant. The mood is set early. This is an album where lyrics carry much of the emotional weight, full of reckonings and reflective moments, often delivered in McKenna’s signature talk-sing style. On Auckland (so close to nothing at all), he skewers urban burnout in the piercing line “This fucking never ending nightmare.” That honesty and vulnerability continues throughout. However, the sonic palette occasionally struggles to match the emotional range, with many songs built from a similar combination of stuttering synths and pulsing rhythms, and vocals that drift between wistful and declarative.
“This is Auckland and it’s falling / We will take it in a day,” sings McKenna, channelling protest and resistance. The album’s recurring mood of danceable despondency is most effective when paired with structural variety. In Socialism (norway st revisited), the sound shifts from industrial rumble to an almost barn-dance rhythm with genuine flair. Similarly, Moxham ave, laundry & erosion builds tension and release through hesitant drums and rhyming couplets that tumble forward with urgency.
McKenna is joined by his regular collaborators: Penelope Esplin (synths, harmonies), Eddie Crawshaw (drums), and Theo Sekeris (bass). Their contributions are understated but effective. Esplin’s harmonies soften some of the starker lyrical edges, while Crawshaw’s varying percussion adds welcome drive, especially on tracks such as The tip, Winter 2002 and Two-dollar shop country.
The emotional experiences of young adulthood are clearly expressed, and the lyrics invite reflection and empathy. Ideally the music would elevate or amplify those themes, however sometimes the polished production makes the overall effect feel a little too uniform. Overall, We lived our lives on top of this is a reflective and personal work that will resonate with listeners who still believe in community and seek something lasting in a world full of temporary fixes, even as the walls around them begin to collapse.
John Bradbury
We lived our lives on top of this is out now on Home Alone: A musical collective from Wellington/Pōneke, Aotearoa New Zealand
AOTEAROA TOUR
27 June – Meow, Pōneke (w/ hara)
10 July – Whammy Bar, Tāmaki Makaurau (w/ Paul Cathro + Beth Torrance)
11 July – The Jam Factory, Tauranga (w/ Wheriko)
12 July – Last Place, Kirikiriroa (w/ Big Sigh + Halcyon Birds)
25 July – Space Academy, Ōtautahi (w/ Agnes Aleesy)
26 July – Pearl Diver, Ōtepoti (w/ Keira Wallace + Francisca Griffin)
Tickets to all shows: https://lake–south.com/shows/
