Aotearoa's new music run is in fine form this week, led by a country duet between West Auckland's TheWesternGuide and Kaylee Bell that turns past-life regret into something warm and forgiving. The roundup comes from the Listener's Songs of the Week, published by the NZ Herald on 18 October 2026, and it stretches from Wellington punk to a Silver Scroll-winning love letter to Samoa.
Here is what deserves a place on your playlist, and why these releases say something about where local music is heading.
TheWesternGuide and Kaylee Bell: country with Pacific soul
Aaron Pulemagafa, who records as TheWesternGuide, has been called West Auckland's 21st century answer to Charley Pride. His new duet with Kaylee Bell, a bittersweet, Nashville-style ballad about old regrets threatening a present relationship, is the week's standout. Bell's verse moves the story from uncertainty toward acceptance, according to Waatea News, which reported that the song works as a musical conversation between two people working through the complications of love.
The pairing has history. Pulemagafa opened for Bell on her 2025 Cowboy Up tour, an experience that put him in front of country audiences across Aotearoa. Now, as CountryTown noted, the circle has closed with Bell lending her voice to his record. The video has a classic Porsche in it, with Bell in the seat and Pulemagafa on the bonnet, which the NZ Herald's reviewer dryly suggested might have stemmed from someone mishearing a memo about a nice porch.
Dartz bring pre-election rabble rousing from Newtown
Wellington punk band Dartz return with White Plastic Chairs, their first release since last year's Moving to Melbourne. The NZ Herald's Russell Baillie called it a dangerously cheerful, bilingual ode to community spirit, and the video was filmed at the Newtown Bowling Club, where the band played before heading to Dunedin, Christchurch, Taupō and Auckland over Labour Weekend. Baillie rated it an excellent rabble rouser in these pre-election times, which is about as pointed as a music column should get.
Purple Pilgrims drift toward a new album
The sister duo of Valentine and Clementine Nixon follow their single Innocence Lost with Outside, the second taste of their album Given to the Night, due 27 November. Graham Reid, writing for the NZ Herald, described their folk-influenced dream pop as coming in pastel shades, possibly decorated with William Morris wallpaper. Outside, he wrote, is a quiet, mystical acknowledgment that sometimes being outside looking in is the better place to be.
Blondie return with Johnny Marr on board
Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, the surviving original members of Blondie, have announced High Noon, their first album in a decade, out 26 February. The first single, Spectral Eyes, was written by and features Johnny Marr, and it effectively returns the band to classic New Wave pop. Reid noted that the lyric may refer to drummer Clem Burke, who died in April 2025 and whom the band once called the heartbeat of Blondie. The empty chair in the clip carries that weight quietly.
What else made the list?
British singer Jake Bugg, now in his mid-30s and seven albums into a career that began when Noel Gallagher praised him as a teenager, goes full finger-picking troubadour on Day By Day, ahead of Alamo on 13 November. Auckland duo Iveta and Simone deliver Ibiza-ready techno pop on Raya-Raya. Soul singer Taylah, aka Tayler Barker, announces her self-titled EP (7 November) with Loved, a gentle bilingual ballad built on acoustic guitar, a career she has been growing steadily with regular singles since 2020.
Kāpiti Coast songwriter Steph Casey straps on a Telecaster for 10,000 Hail Marys, the title track of an EP out 6 November, stepping away from acoustic work with backing from members of Let's Planet. And Auckland band LEAO get a flashback for Laleilei, last week's Apra Silver Scroll winner, a laidback love letter to Samoa that nods to 1960s Samoan bands such as the Samoan Surf Riders. The band, featured in the film Tinā, is currently in Britain before supporting desert-rock group Tinariwen in Scandinavia.
A classical win for Dylan Lardelli
The list closes with composer Dylan Lardelli of Ngāti Porou and Ngāi Tūhoe, whose Light Lines, a piece for string trio commissioned by Switzerland's Mondrian Ensemble, won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award for the year's best classical composition at the Silver Scrolls last week. The NZ Herald's Richard Betts called it delicate but insistent, and a bold choice by the judges.
Why this week matters for local music
Read together, the selections sketch a healthy picture. A Samoan-Kiwi country artist duets with one of Aotearoa's biggest country stars. A Samoan-language love letter takes a major songwriting award. A Wellington punk band sings in two languages about community. This is local music doing what it does best, absorbing influences from Nashville and Ibiza and Manchester while staying unmistakably rooted here.
Frequently asked questions
Who is TheWesternGuide?
TheWesternGuide is the stage name of Aaron Pulemagafa, a Samoan-Kiwi country artist from West Auckland who opened for Kaylee Bell on her 2025 Cowboy Up tour.
When does Purple Pilgrims' new album come out?
Given to the Night, the new album from Purple Pilgrims, is released on 27 November 2026.
What is Blondie's new album called?
High Noon, Blondie's first album in a decade, is out 26 February and features writing and guitar from Johnny Marr.
Which song won the 2026 Apra Silver Scroll?
Laleilei by Auckland band LEAO won the Apra Silver Scroll, while Dylan Lardelli's Light Lines took the SOUNZ Contemporary Award for best classical composition.