Whanganui producer Air Hockey to release debut album this year

Air Hockey will release his debut album 'Full Moon Comedown' this year. Photo / Supplied

Whanganui-based downtempo electro-pop producer Air Hockey has released two tracks in the lead-up to unleashing his full-length, self-produced debut album later this year.

Air Hockey is the electronic project of 22-year-old producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Andy Hockey, who released his first EP 'Runnerup' in November 2018.

"I wanted to create a body of work that, while electronic in character, tells a natural, organic story: the bloom and collapse of the seasons, the magic of the night sky," Hockey says of his forthcoming album 'Full Moon Comedown'.

"Start to finish, the narrative of this album is essentially one great, big, emotional, spiritual experience of sobering up."

In the past week, Hockey has released two contributing tracks to the album.

'Let There Be Light' sets the tone, sonically, lyrically and visually, for the album, he said.

Its accompanying music video weaves together animated lyrics with a compilation of decades-old archived footage, educational videos about space and nature, and advertisements for cassette tapes. The track is an ode to the mysteries of space - repetitive lyrics declaring a devotion to the moon and an awe of the cosmos.

In contrast, the energetic single '22yo' resembles a much brighter, pop-inclined track.

"The lyrics detail a sharp romantic U-turn; abandoning the beginnings of a relationship back home for the freedom found on holiday along the Great Ocean Road; reminiscing about good friendship, cheap beer, duty-free cigarettes, and sticking with the familiarity of singlehood. With watery bass lines, screeching guitars licks, swooping synths and a marching snare beat, this foray into a more conventional pop sound attempts to capture the excitement of summer alongside the chaos of turbulent emotion."

Hockey says he's looking forward to releasing the album in the coming months, and has started performing a number of his tracks live in Whanganui.