ONE WE MISSED: Noise Play: Junk (digital outlets)

After a brace of strong pop-rock albums which bumped up against indifferent radio programmers (but which found favour at Elsewhere), Auckland singer-songwriter Danny McCrum did the obvious.

No, he didn't quit.

He just carried on.

He turned his production skills and home studio to the service of others (check out this recent slice of electro-pop by Soulti from Raglan), started a podcast with musicians about being in the music industry, and . . .

This new album under the Noise Play name came out during the Christmas/New Year wind-up period so we missed it.

But – with the likes of keyboard players Eddie (Enz etc) Rayner on Junk and Bonsai, Mark Steven on Just a Little Bit, and Stephen (Hello Sailor, Verlaines) Small – the power pop trio of multi-instrumentalist McCrum, bassist/keyboard player Dan Antunovich and drummer Jasper de Roos delivered another installment of tightly crafted songs with a touch of guitar jangle, the resilience of Middle American rock (Kansas, Foreigner, Bon Jovi) and plenty of hooks and choruses.

The title track opens like the Stones Roses but heads into rock'n'roll heartland bars, the exciting overdrive of Rapture is in and out in under three minutes, the final song When the World Don't Fit (“stand up and fight”) with Small is a statement of intent to a stabbing reggae rhythm.

And, in a nod to influences, the Spotify page for the album includes a reworking of Neil Finn's She Will Have Her Way.

Danny McCrum just keeps doing it and has built a very sound catalogue worth exploring. You just wish radio would discover him.

We'd even let programmers take the credit if it gets his songs in front of an audience that would appreciate them.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here