Ladyhawke Wild Things

“People wonder why there’s always a massive gap between my albums,” says Pip Brown, better known as Ladyhawke, the one-woman synth-pop act from New Zealand. The reason is both complicated and easy. The simple explanation: “I’ve never released anything I’m not proud of. That’s important to me.” Those instincts have served Brown well, starting with her self-titled debut in 2008, which peaked at No. 16 on the UK album charts and No. 1 in Australia and New Zealand’s album charts. Ladyhawke’s more aurally angular follow-up, Anxiety, charted in the UK’s Top 40 and in Australia’s and New Zealand’s Top 20, respectively. Brown’s conviction to authenticity led her on a journey starting in 2013. Over three years, she scrapped a full Ladyhawke album (“The material didn’t feel like me. It felt too dark or something”). Once reliant on alcohol to surmount social anxiety (“I’d never done a sober show in my life until last December”), she quit drinking and focused on getting healthy. Then she welcomed that newfound clarity by crafting her latest release, the blissed-out Wild Things.