Debt Club: Indebted to Folk, Jazz and Country Rock
An eerie instrumental hum dances through the air, trembling with promise. It slips down your spine and settles in your chest, swelling with anticipation — what’s coming next? A cymbal joins in, tapping a steady percussion. Your heart syncs to match its beat. Then, a guitar stums, coaxing you to let go of your worries. Finally, a voice, ethereal and warm, rises above it all. Before you know it, you’re running barefoot through a field of grass and wildflowers, wind rushing through your hair.
Anthemic, euphoric and liberating. That’s the sound of Debt Club — a Wellington-based band blending indie, folk, post-punk and jazz.
They’re a mix of Massey Music students, Jazz school alumni, and music creatives. River Hann-Ellen leads on vocals and guitar, with Maxime Zephyr on drums, Flinn Bellam on guitar, and Alex Vujanic on saxophone. Elina Chester brings flair on keys, while their bassist Rose Lubransky has recently relocated to Berlin — now replaced by new recruit Darcy Monteath.
River says while its bittersweet seeing Rose off, change brings momentum. A new player brings a new direction.
Debt Club started in high school, when River and Flinn picked the name out for a one-off show. They opened for Rose, who formally was a solo artist. In the crowd that night, a young Maxime watched on. Flash forwards to 2023, River, Flinn, Rose and Maxime made up the new and improved Debt Club, with an entirely transformed sound.
As Flinn puts it, think: “Jangle folk meets country rock with saxophone”. In a Ven-diagram of musical genres, the band fits into a Bruce Springsteen vibe mixed with Midwest emo, British guitar pop, and post-punk drums.
Songwriting is a collaborative, layered process. River lays down the acoustic bones, Flinn builds out melodies and lead lines, and the rest of the band adds texture. “You guys are the brains,” Alex tells River and Flinn, “and we’re the bones.”
River wears many hats — songwriter, producer, mixer, manager, and gig wrangler. Maxime says that River’s fingerprints are on every part of the creative process: “From conception to completion it’s all under his fingers. It makes it really cohesive.”
This cohesion comes through on stage too. Especially now. The band has recently added a sampler to their rig, their biggest level up to their live sound since adding Alex’s sax. Songs now flow into each other with ease, reducing pressure on crowd work and making their sets feel like a full performance.
Alex says, “It feels like sky’s the limit now ... These tunes are so lush and inviting to play on.”
On stage, the band’s energy is palpable and exhausting in the best way. Maxime says that it’s a visceral experience: “There’s a lot of moments when everyone is at almost their breaking point – often in the outros of songs, when Alex is at the top of his range and I’m maybe speeding up a bit. It’s where we’re all kind of collectively on the verge of what we’re capable of.”
Debt Club’s magic is in their contrasts. They balance space and softness with a rich, full sound — a dynamic contrast that ebbs and flows with effortless precision.
But not every show goes off without a hitch.
In February at the Island Bay Festival, Flinn forgot his capo and spent most of the set sprinting between strangers, hunting through toolboxes for a makeshift one. He missed half the show.
Meanwhile, Maxime was on stage fighting a collapsing drum-kit with a broken kick pedal, broken snare, and faulty hi-hat clutch. Maxime laughs, “I spent half the set drumming, and half of it just trying to keep it all together.”
But it's not all chaos, the band has had plenty of highlights thus far. From a packed out Eyegum show, to opening for Sofia McCray at San Fran, and performing at CubaDupa.
Now? They’ve got a four-track EP on the way. A full album is on the horizon. They're itching to play outside of Wellington, with Auckland next on the list – but honestly? They’ll play anywhere with a massive sound system.
Flinn says, “We really pack a punch.” With a unique sound that defies genre labels and the rules of sound, they fit in a category that is completely their own.
If you’ve ever caught them live, you’ll know it’s more than just a vibe. It’s a feeling you carry with you.