New Faces: Straitjacket Fits New Zealand's pop export

Shayne Carter's voice is shot to hell. The lead singer-songwriter for New Zealand's brilliantly bracing pop export, Straitjacket Fits, has been playing two shows a night for weeks and is at the moment in need of plenty of coffee and just a little recognition from American audiences. "I've sort of been involved with music that's been critically acclaimed for as long as I've made it," says Carter in a hoarse whisper. "Now I want to get the music out there. All the music I've ever loved has had integrity to it, and that just isn't something you can fake."

Integrity is something Straitjacket Fits have worn from the beginning. As a franchise player on the roster of Flying Nun Records, the band - Carter, David Wood, John Collie and Andrew Brough - has helped the label churn out the smartest guitar rock on either side of the equator for the last five years. "The distance created by living in New Zealand is good," says Carter. "It doesn't breed ignorance, but it's the ideal filtering device. The last thing I want our band to be is another mediocre pop thing. There's enough of those in this world."

The music on 1989's Hail, as well as on the band's current release, Melt, is as far from traditional pop as it is from mediocre. Dancing on the razor-thin tightrope that separates dark and unsettling from beautiful and lilting, the songs transform discordant chaos into melodic serenity on the strength of Carter and Brough's soaring harmonies. "Our music has a loping kind of sway to it," says Carter, "but at the same time it can still be pretty motherfucking rocking."

The dilemma for Straitjacket Fits now isn't discovering their own musical identity but uncovering a way to introduce themselves to the world beyond New Zealand. "We're not coming over here proclaiming ourselves the greatest band in the world," says Carter. "We couldn't sell out if we tried. I guess we're destined to be a critically acclaimed pop band, until we break up to become roadies."

Jeff Giles with Chris Mundy and Michael Azerrad