“I’d reconnected with New Zealand on the previous tour somehow and just thought, we can do anything we want now - why don’t we just make a record in a house, somewhere out in the back blocks on New Zealand, the vibe will be good.

I spent a month looking for a house. Went to Great Barrier Island with Jaz Coleman and got ferried across a swollen river in a flood by Jaz. We didn’t find anywhere at Great Barrier but I looked all around Karekare. It was obviously a solid idea but, for the life of me now, I can’t really imagine why I was so possessed with that thought.

We found a really good house and we moved there. We carried the desk up to the house - all of us except Paul - and it was a really heavy desk, up this steep driveway. There was a lot of commitment involved.

We sat in there and we watched the weather come flying in every day with big bruising clouds. It’s an amazing place, beautiful, but quite a heavy place, so the atmosphere permeates the record. I don’t think Together Alone makes any more sense, ever, to anybody, than when it’s played in Karekare.”