Maxine Funke

New Zealand's Maxine Funke is an Internet-shy, folk-inspired singer/songwriter whose hushed, enigmatic, lo-fi acoustic analog recordings draw comparisons to work by Vashti Bunyan and Sibylle Baier. After brief tenures on electric guitar alongside her drumming stepfather, Mike Dooley, in comparatively louder early-2000s outfits -- the Beaters, Snapper, and the Snares -- she met the experimental musician Alastair Galbraith. Alongside Galbraith and Dooley, Funke went on to play cello in the improvisational Hundred Dollar Band -- as captured on 2006's Waves & Particles -- before compiling stray acoustic solo recordings from the era as 2008's Lace. 2012's Felt was a more consistent record, but on 2018's Silk she interspersed her songs with wonky retro-electronic instrumental pieces. On 2021's Séance, Funke introduced further experimentation, this time as part of her core compositions, simultaneously making one of her most accessible records to date.