A love without limit _{by Madelaine Empson}

After a four-year hiatus, Te Whanganui-a-Tara artist Lake South and his electricUTOPIA band have returned with their fourth and best album yet. Released on the 6^th of June, the soaring epic We lived our lives on top of this was written in the pockets of free time in the three years since the birth of Lake’s first child.

“Kia ora rawa atu”, the singer-songwriter exclaims when I pass on my congratulations. “I didn’t realise how much time I had before. I didn’t realise how much I would learn about myself and the world. There is so much joy in every day that we live.”

“When we’re young, we think life will get easier as we age”, Lake says of how his music has evolved in this new chapter of life. “The older we get, the more we’ll understand. But it’s hard work. And it’s scary. Friends and family are everything.”

Straddling immense joy, white nights, the mourning of a life lived lonely, and the delicate embrace of a love without limit, Lake spent “way too much time writing and crafting this album” and is relieved to finally have it off his hands and out of his head.

With the We lived our lives on top of this release tour kicking off at Meow on the 27^th of June, Lake says the “title of the album comes from Elizabeth Strout’s book Oh William!. The best thing people can take from it is that USA-style individualism and belief in meritocracy is flawed and harmful. That kind of thinking leads to selfishness, discrimination, and indifference to the less fortunate. Everyone works hard but only some people get lucky. Once we accept that, we can work with each other for good.”