How to Write Dunedin Sound Lyrics

You want lyrics that sound like a cassette tape left in a car window during a rainy summer while your best friend laughs in the back seat. You want something literate but unpretentious. You want images that are small town big feeling. You want a voice that is wry, a little sad, and surprisingly specific. The Dunedin Sound is more than a guitar tone. It is a way of looking at ordinary things and making them feel important the moment you sing them. This is your guide to writing lyrics that inhabit that world.

This guide is written for artists who love jangly guitars, brittle production, and the idea that a song can be both clever and humane. You will get practical templates, lyrical devices, before and after rewrites, vocal suggestions, and exercises you can use today. I will explain terms as they come up so you never have to pretend you always knew what Flying Nun meant. Bring a notebook and an honest pair of jeans.

What Is the Dunedin Sound

Quick primer. Dunedin Sound refers to a style that emerged in Dunedin, New Zealand in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is closely tied to a label called Flying Nun. Flying Nun is an independent record label started in Christchurch that championed bands from Dunedin and the surrounding area. Bands like The Clean, The Chills, The Verlaines, The Bats, and Sneaky Feelings are the poster children. Sonically it is jangly guitars, simple song forms, and a lo fi aesthetic. Lo fi means low fidelity. It describes recordings that are imperfect in ways that feel honest rather than broken.

Lyric wise the Dunedin Sound favors intimacy, local imagery, literate references, deadpan humor, and a small scale that feels universal. It is not about big stadium confessions. It is about a mailbox, a cigarette, a rainy day in town, a marine smell, a student flat, the way a streetlight makes a puddle look like a pool. If you want to write Dunedin Sound lyrics, learn to love the small and make it sing.

Core Principles of Dunedin Sound Lyrics

• Specificity over grandness Use one small object and let it carry emotion.
• Casual intelligence Be literate without sounding like you are reciting poetry in a lecture hall.
• Understated honesty Say things plainly and then add a small odd detail to twist meaning.
• Wry tenderness Mix a bit of sarcasm and a lot of feeling.
• Atmosphere through detail Let place and weather shape the mood.

Voice and Attitude

The Dunedin narrator is usually someone who notices things that others would call mundane. They are melancholic but not melodramatic. They make a joke even while their chest is breaking. Think of a friend who texts you a photo of a broken cup with the caption I fixed it with tape and then cries later that night. That voice is your model.

Real life scenario

• You leave a party early and stand by the bus stop watching the streetlamp puddle like a theater. You write one line about the puddle and it becomes your chorus. Not dramatic. Full of feeling. That is Dunedin.

Common Themes and Motifs

If you map recurring images from key Dunedin Sound songs you will get a list that reads like small town poetry.

• Sea and weather
• Cheap rooms and student flats
• Lost or changing friendships
• Books and records
• Roads and buses
• Everyday objects like cups, boots, and cigarettes
• Local place names and private geography

Using these motifs does not make your lyric derivative. It anchors readers in an emotional geography that feels authentic. Swap in your own local objects if you are not writing about Dunedin. The principle is the same.

Tools and Terms Explained

Flying Nun

Flying Nun is the label that put the Dunedin Sound on the map. It acted like a megaphone for small town bands. Mention the label in conversation like you would mention a trusted friend who always shows up with records.

Jangle

Jangle describes bright, chiming guitar tones often played on Rickenbacker guitars. It is the sound of a chorus of gulls when you strum thinly. Jangle in lyrics means you can lean on clarity and light contrast instead of heavy metaphor.

Lo fi

Lo fi means imperfect audio. It is the texture that makes a vocal feel close and human. In lyric terms it allows for speech like lines, small ad libs, and even breathy mistakes that make the moment real. If you record yourself singing and the tape wobble makes a word wobble, keep it if it feels honest.

DIY

DIY stands for do it yourself. It is a spirit. It means you can record in a flat, print your own sleeves, and release a cassette without asking permission from a giant company. The lyric implication is you can write something private and put it out in the world and that is enough.

How to Pick a Dunedin Sound Topic

Start with a small domestic moment. The best Dunedin songs begin with a single image and then let that image branch into memory and consequence. Pick a simple situation.

• A lost bus ticket found in a jacket.
• A lover who leaves a toothbrush behind.
• A band poster torn in the rain.
• A milk bottle on a doorstep.

Real life scenario

You find a cassette in a drawer and press play. The drum machine clicks and a voice sings about a harbor. You scribble down the harbor and the brand of lighter in your pocket. That list becomes the spine of a verse.

Song Structure That Fits the Sound

Dunedin Sound songs are often compact. They prefer lean forms that move forward without heroic choruses. Try these three forms that work well.

Form A Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Bridge Chorus

Classic and efficient. Keep choruses short. Make the chorus a small confession or a repeated image rather than a big declarative line.

Form B Intro Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Outro

Use an instrumental intro with a jangly riff. The outro can be a repeated line with small variations. This form keeps the song feeling like an evening that fades out rather than an argument that ends.

Form C Verse Verse Bridge Verse

Less emphasis on choruses. Use two verses to tell the story and a bridge for perspective. This format suits songs that are narrative and intimate.

Lines That Work and Lines That Flop

Before and after examples will help you see specific edits. We are replacing broad statements with concrete, slightly odd images.

Before

I miss you every night and I cannot sleep.

After

The kettle clicks alone at two. My phone is face down in the bathtub. I take a picture of its dark and send it to no one.

Why the after works

• It substitutes the abstract miss you with sensory detail.
• It introduces a small action that feels believable and lonely.
• It gives a modern domestic image that listeners can picture easily.

Before

We used to walk by the sea and talk about everything.

After

We walked past the boat yard where the paint peeled like old posters. You said the sea smelled like pennies and I said you were making that up.

Why the after works

• It shows rather than tells.
• It gives a small argument that hints at intimacy.
• It uses a sensory simile that is slightly strange and sticks.

Lyric Devices to Steal from the Scene

The Local Name Drop

Use a street name, a local pub, or a bus route. It does not have to be a famous place. The authenticity comes from the confident specificity. Example line I left the keys at the Kings Arms is better than I left the keys at a bar.

The Object As Emotion

Make a small item do the emotional work. A chipped mug becomes grief. A scratched vinyl is memory. Let the object carry contradiction. Example: The needle skips exactly where we used to kiss.

Deadpan Humor

State something tender and then undercut it with a dry aside. Example: I kept your sweater for two winters. It only fit the cat.

Camera Shot Lyrics

Write lines as if you are directing a cheap short film. Close up on hands. Pan to a wet street. This gives lyrics cinematic detail without melodrama.

Rhyme and Meter

Dunedin lyrics are not slavishly rhymed. Use internal rhyme and slant rhyme. A perfect rhyme can feel poppy rather than intimate. Slant rhyme is when words sound similar without matching exactly. It keeps the ear interested without announcing itself. Think soft echoes.

Prosody explained

Prosody means the match between natural speech stress and musical stress. Speak your lines out loud. If the strongest word in the line lands on a small musical beat you will feel it pull. Fix the line by moving words or changing vowels. For example the line The rain is loud tonight will feel better if the word rain lands on the strong beat rather than is.

Melody and Vocal Delivery for Lyrics

In Dunedin songs the vocal often sits close to the mic and reads like a conversation. You can sing softly or with a strained shout. The important part is that the lyrics feel like someone is letting you in. Double the chorus sparingly. Keep verse vocals mostly dry and intimate. Let chorus vocals open slightly with a small vowel stretch rather than a big belting moment.

Real life recording tip

• Record a take where you just speak the line into the mic in rhythm. Then sing over that take keeping the same breath pattern. This keeps prosody honest and the vocal natural.

Imagery Workshop

Small exercises to produce Dunedin types of images.

Exercise 1 Object List

1. Set a timer for five minutes.
2. Write every object you see in the room without editing.
3. Pick three objects and write one emotional line about each as if the object were a person.

Exercise 2 Weather and Memory

1. Choose a weather state like rain, sun, or fog.
2. Write three brief memory scenes that happen under that weather.
3. Each scene must include one odd detail that does not explain the memory.

Exercise 3 Two Line Dialogue

1. Write two lines that read like a reply to a text message. Keep punctuation natural.
2. Do not state feelings. Let the object or action imply them.

How to Turn Lines into a Song

Map your strongest image to the chorus. The chorus in a Dunedin song is often a repeated image or a quiet confession rather than a shouted thesis. Verses expand the context. Use the bridge to offer a small change in perspective rather than a moral lesson.

Practical step by step

1. Write a core promise sentence. This is one plain sentence that states the feeling of the song. Example I keep walking past your flat and pretending not to know which door is yours.
2. Turn that sentence into a short title. Keep it under five words if possible.
3. Build a chorus around the title using an object or weather image to carry emotion.
4. Write two verses that place specific scenes around that title. Use time crumbs and place crumbs. A time crumb is a small mention of time like 2 a m or a Saturday morning. A place crumb is a street name or a shop.
5. Use a bridge to show a small consequence or a contradictory memory. The bridge should feel like a different camera angle not a different movie.

Before and After Full Verse Example

Before

I miss the nights with you. We had good times. I wish things were the same.

After

Verse

The takeaway lights go out at three. The bag of chips makes a sound like static in my hand. I walk the same block twice and count how many windows still show your floor lamp.

Pre chorus

You left a beer coaster with a comic strip on it. I keep it by the kettle to remember how small your laugh sounded.

Chorus

I walk past your flat like I am late for something. I am not. The streetlight paints your door the color of a promise I do not want to make.

Why this works

• It replaces bland longing with concrete scenes.
• It uses small quotidian items to stand in for relationship history.
• It keeps the narrator present and honest rather than plaintive.

Production and Lyric Space

Production is not separate from lyric writing. The mix decides which line the listener registers first. If you have an important lyric moment place a small drop in instrumentation or a short pause before it. Use shallow reverb on verses to keep intimacy. Bring in jangly guitars on the chorus to open space around the lyric and give it a little brightness.

Practical example

• Before the chorus take out the snare or mute two guitar tracks for one bar. The line that follows will land like a small surprise.

How to Maintain Authenticity Without Copying

It is possible to aim for a vibe without aping specific songs. Use the scene tools but import your own geography and objects. If you did not grow up in Dunedin use the same method with the place that shaped you. The secret is not location it is attention to detail and the willingness to leave out lines that explain everything.

Real life scenario

You love The Clean but you live in a midwest town. Replace harbour with river bend. Replace the local pub name with your checklist. The emotional logic stays the same.

Editing and the Crime Scene Pass

Every lyric needs a ruthless edit. Try this crime scene pass and you will cut through filler fast.

1. Underline every abstract word like love, sad, lonely. Replace with concrete details.
2. Find the line that explains the emotion. Delete it. Let the detail do the emotion work.
3. Circle every being verb like is and are. Replace with actions when possible.
4. Remove any line that would make sense on a motivational poster. Those are the lines your listeners will ignore.

Common Mistakes and Quick Fixes

• Over explaining Fix by cutting the sentence that tells the listener what to feel.
• Fancy words for show Fix by swapping a simpler object or verb that your listener can picture.
• Trying to be too clever Fix by choosing one small surprising detail and letting everything revolve around it.
• Recording dry vocals that sound distant Fix by moving the mic closer and singing like you are talking to one person.

Performance Tips

When you perform Dunedin Sound lyrics you want the audience to feel invited not instructed. Keep eye contact with one person for a line. Smile where the lyric is ironic and let the whisper land on the saddest image. Small dynamic shifts work better than big gestures.

Exercises to Finish Songs Faster

The Five Minute Hook

1. Play two chords for five minutes.
2. Sing on vowels until you find a short melodic gesture.
3. Place a small image on that gesture and repeat it twice. You now have a chorus seed.

The Object to Chorus Drill

1. Pick one object from your day and write ten one line images around it.
2. Choose the three strongest images and turn one into a chorus line.

The Camera Pass

1. Take your verse and write a camera shot for each line. Close up, medium, wide etc.
2. If you cannot imagine a shot rewrite the line until you can. The camera trick forces concreteness.

Publishing and Community Notes

Dunedin Sound grew out of a tight community. If you want to be part of something similar find other players, swap cassettes, play house shows, and make physical things. Physical objects like a homemade lyric sheet or a xeroxed fanzine still feel special. The music industry loves stories about community and the community itself is often where the best songs are born.

Quick Checklist Before You Release

1. Are your images specific and place based?
2. Do you show rather than tell?
3. Does the vocal sound close and honest in the mix?
4. Does the chorus repeat a tiny piece of truth without explaining everything?
5. Did you remove the most obvious lines that sound like filler?

Lyric Example You Can Model

Verse

The bus door sighs and the driver stares at his hands. I hold a paper bag where your jacket used to be. The brand is wrong for your hands but it fits mine like a memory.

Chorus

I walk past your window and the cat still sleeps in the light. It does not know what we did. I do not tell it. I keep the street to myself like a secret.

Bridge

There is a postcard of a beach I never went to. I keep it face down. The postcard thinks we are somewhere else.

Common Questions about Dunedin Sound Lyrics

Do I need to sing about Dunedin to write Dunedin Sound lyrics

No. The sound is a sensibility not a postal code. The instruments and production can nod to the originals but the lyrical spirit is about small images, quiet irony, and local truth. You can apply it to your hometown or your imaginary town just the same.

Can modern language sit in this style

Yes. A line about a cracked phone charger can sit next to a line about a paper match and both will feel right. The key is sincerity. Use modern objects as anchors not as showy proof of relevance.

Should I reference Flying Nun directly

Only if it matters. Name dropping is fine when it is part of the story. Otherwise let the influence be in the texture and the choices you make about imagery and voice.

How do I keep lyrical variety without losing the vibe

Vary scenes, tenses, and camera angles. Keep the same narrator voice and the same emotional premise. Change details but not the core mood. This creates narrative momentum without losing the signature style.

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