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16 October 2026
Ha the Unclear have released their Astigmatic! EP, featuring focus track 'Earth Grazer'. A jittery pop number that mixes levity with introspection, the song starts out pondering a missed encounter before devolving into a reflection on existential brevity.
The EP and focus track arrive following the release of lead single 'Cumberland St (Astigmatic)' – view the just-released video for the track here – and second single 'The Cold' in September.
Astigmatic! sees the band rollick through five new tracks, and teases a full album release in 2027. Recorded with award-winning producer and engineer Tom Healy at his Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland studio, the EP is the band's first new material since they released their 2024 amalgam LP A Kingdom in a Cul-de-Sac (Think Zik!/Virgin).
Made with the stage in mind, Ha the Unclear are due to tour Astigmatic! across Aotearoa in November, giving fans in the four main centres an opportunity to experience the new material live (dates below).
'Cumberland Street (Astigmatic)' extols the joy of hitting a run of green lights on the titular Dunedin street – the cry of "Astigmatic!" (for which the EP is named) serving as a central optical metaphor. The line "staring at the stars, no they were streetlights leaking in a row" comes, songwriter and vocalist Michael Cathro says, from "a very early memory of pointing out stars to my parents on a Dunedin evening, not realising they were just streetlights on the opposite hill." The more mid-tempo 'The Good Times Always End in Tears' is a nostalgia-tinged goodbye-for-now to the old hometown, while in the frantically anthemic 'The Cold', the creative process is akin to gold panning in the river of thought while a backing vocal refrain yells back a meta-narrative: “the story that I tell myself / the wood with which I build my house / the house from which I throw my stones.”
Since forming in 2014, Ha the Unclear have built a loyal following internationally and in Aotearoa; broken into the Top 10 on the Aotearoa Albums Chart; been longlisted twice for the APRA Silver Scroll; and have supported The Shins and toured with Courtney Barnett and The Dandy Warhols.
After showcasing at MaMA Festival and signing to a Paris-based imprint, the band made their European debut in 2024 with the release of A Kingdom... marked also by their first headline show on the continent, at Paris venue Supersonic. They were warmly received by French press and radio, including FIP – which described the record as "a kaleidoscopic and surreal pop journey."
As well as additional dates supporting Lime Garden (Paris) and Feldup (Nantes), A Kingdom in a Cul-de-Sac was praised by Le Figaro, Libération, Télérama, Rock & Folk and Rolling Stone France, with rotation on France Inter, FIP and Europe 2.
Astigmatic! is out now and available to purchase via Bandcamp. It heralds a full album, expected mid-2027.
Tracklist:
Cumberland Street (Astigmatic)
The Cold
Earth Grazer
The Good Times Always End in Tears
Mountains We've Made
MEDIA ON HA THE UNCLEAR:
"Spontaneous, electrifying and kind." – Rolling Stone France
"Never encumbered by any pretence." – Le Figaro
"Hook-laden, vocally rich." – Rolling Stone AU/NZ
"Cheerfully oblivious but secretly smart" – RNZ
"Infectious pop music with lyrics that are as quirky as they are heartfelt. Irresistible." – François Gorin (Télérama) (Translated)
Astigmatic! Tour
6 November – Crown Hotel – Ōtepoti | Dunedin
13 November – Whammy – Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland
14 November – Space Academy – Ōtautahi | Christchurch
4 December – Meow – Pōneke | Wellington
Tickets available here
CREDIT: JENNA TODD
PRESS KIT & ARTWORK
ARTIST BIO
Ha the Unclear are a Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland-based indie rock, existential pop group from Ōtepoti | Dunedin. Vocalist and songwriter Michael Cathro began the whole shebang with a string of solo bedroom EPs released under the pseudonym Baraka and the Finish Hims. After deciding to develop it into a live project, Cathro’s brother Paul joined on bass along with Ben Sargeant on drums, performing together under the name Brown. With guitarist Theodore Francis soon joining the fold, the project took shape when the band eventually moved to Tāmaki, becoming Ha the Unclear – an awkward name that rings out like a sardonic burst, inspired by reading the existentialists while working a call centre job: "I’d find myself laughing out loud when confronted with existential questions and the breakdown of meaning, and then pulling myself together to help someone lodge an insurance claim." Right. The songs, for their part, become crystal clear as the band unpins them like grenades on-stage, opening for indie legends like The Shins, Courtney Barnett, The Dandy Warhols or The Wombats – the latest batch of tunes penned mostly from a room on the Ōtepoti wharf “among the songs of seabirds”, where Cathro inhabited a shared creative space before returning to Tāmaki.
In 2024, the band released their amalgam album A Kingdom in a Cul-de-Sac (Think Zik!/Virgin). This resulted in the band playing their debut European headline show – current drummer Stu Harwood behind the kit – where they were received warmly by French press and radio, described fittingly by FIP as "a kaleidoscopic and surreal pop journey."
Astigmatic! is Ha the Unclear's first release since, and sees the band rollick through five new tracks. 'Cumberland Street (Astigmatic)' extols the joy of hitting a run of green lights on the titular Dunedin street – the cry of "Astigmatic!" (for which the EP is named) serving as a central optical metaphor. The line "staring at the stars, no they were streetlights leaking in a row" comes, songwriter/vocalist Michael Cathro says, from "a very early memory of pointing out stars to my parents on a Dunedin evening, not realising they were just streetlights on the opposite hill." While the more mid-tempo 'The Good Times Always End in Tears' is a nostalgia-tinged goodbye-for-now to the old hometown, 'Earth Grazer', a jittery pop number, mixes levity with introspection where a missed encounter devolves into a reflection on existential brevity. In the frantically anthemic 'The Cold', the creative process is akin to gold panning in the river of thought while a backing vocal refrain yells back a meta-narrative: “the story that I tell myself / the wood with which I build my house / the house from which I throw my stones.”
The independently released Astigmatic! EP heralds a full album, expected mid-2027.
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