{"id":2402186,"date":"2026-05-04T22:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2402186"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:38:13","slug":"new-music-monday-neighbourly-release-first-full-length-album-since-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/new-music-monday-neighbourly-release-first-full-length-album-since-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"New Music Monday: Neighbourly release first full-length album since 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every Monday, there will be a fresh \u2018New Music Monday\u2019 article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!<\/span><\/p>\n

For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at <\/span>CFUV 101.9 FM<\/b><\/a>, UVic\u2019s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.<\/span><\/p>\n

To date, there have been 76 New Music Monday features published through this collaboration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This week, <\/span>Neighbourly<\/b><\/a> is the New Music Monday highlight!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Neighbourly is a four-piece psych-fusion band from right here in Victoria who have established themselves as heavy-hitters in the music scene over the last four years, and prior to that played together in a different project called Speak Easy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The band is comprised of Ollie Sandberg, Latham Reader, Lauren Giorgio and Scott Sparrow, who approach songwriting in a very collaborative\u2014or neighbourly\u2014way, with all members of the band aiding in the writing, production and fleshing out of each song.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the last time Victoria Buzz spoke with the band, they have released three EPs, but haven\u2019t put out a full length album since 2023\u2014until now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 6th, they released <\/span>Kerplunk <\/span><\/i>to the world\u2014an eight-track album where each member contributed two songs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For this album, the band hired Dave Perry to record them at Risque Disque Records near Ladysmith. This was a big step for the band, who are usually keen to produce their own material.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perry specializes in recording analog to tape, a process that is a bit more involved than recording digitally and something that Neighbourly really wanted to embrace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just someone in Victoria who is like, \u2018the tape guy,\u2019 if you want to record to tape on Vancouver Island, Dave would probably be in the top three,\u201d said Sandberg.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with tape rather than digital\u2014what I took away from this experience\u2014is that you are kind of capturing a performance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sandberg told Victoria Buzz this release has felt a bit peculiar to the band because since 2024, the band\u2019s dynamic has changed a bit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of those changes was that Sparrow moved away to Vancouver and wanted to travel. Another was that the band\u2019s record label Earth Libraries wanted to hold off on releasing the record to better fit their schedule.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though these changes influenced the way Neighbourly operates, the band embraced them and figured out how to keep going leading up to this latest release.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s just where we\u2019re at with Neighbourly,\u201d Sandberg explained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re navigating someone not living in the same town as us anymore so we have to be way more intentional when it comes to shows and booking shows.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He added that because of these obstacles and the fact that touring the album\u2019s release was difficult to navigate, releasing <\/span>Kerplunk <\/span><\/i>to the world felt like a laid back experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the \u201cchiller\u201d release, Sandberg said that this summer will be the band\u2019s busiest yet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have music out, people know we\u2019re active, it\u2019s nice,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like we got it to a place where we\u2019ve always wanted it to be\u2014it\u2019s funding itself, whether that\u2019s financially or spiritually.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Highlight Track \u2013 \u201cHailu\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

With each member writing and contributing two songs to the album, Sandberg said that his contributions were \u201cThe Way\u201d and \u201cHailu.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHailu\u201d was particularly important to him because he wrote it as an ode to one of his favorite musicians, Hailu Mergia\u2014an influential Ethiopian keyboardist and accordion player.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cArguably maybe my favourite artist ever\u2014his story is just so sick,\u201d explained Sandberg.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was coming up in the 70s in Ethiopia but in that era there was civil war. He actually left and moved to New York where he was a taxi driver for like 30 years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, a record label called Awesome Tapes from Africa stumbled across his music from when he was making music back in Ethiopia and they reissued all his tapes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey discovered that he was still alive in New York City and now he is touring again,\u201d he exclaimed, comparing Mergia\u2019s story to <\/span>Searching for Sugar Man <\/span><\/i>documentary following the rediscovery of Sixto Rodriguez.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very similar story, and honestly, I\u2019m just waiting for the documentary about Hailu Mergia because he\u2019s incredible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sandberg describes Mergia\u2019s music as lo-fi recordings indicative of a party band and says that he\u2019s always wanted to write a song that sounds like it could come from a Hailu Mergia record. That was his inspiration for \u201cHailu.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out \u201cHailu\u201d by Neighbourly below:<\/span><\/p>\n