New Tomorrows

Cypress Tree

Sola Rosa, the long-running project of New Zealand producer Andrew Spraggon, has never lacked stylistic ambition. Over the past two decades, he's taken an omnivorous approach to genre—soul, R&B, funk, jazz, hip-hop, and the occasional nod to pop—all filtered through a lens that favours polish and warmth over flash. It’s music that feels lived-in rather than lab-engineered.

Since winning Best Electronic Release at the 2001 NZ Music Awards for Solarized, Spraggon has quietly built an international rep. There’ve been remixes from Tall Black Guy, Hermitude and DJ Vadim; sets at Secret Garden Party and Green Man; praise from Rolling Stone, Mojo, and more. Yet he remains a bit of a secret—an underground mainstay rather than a household name.

The 2020 LP Chasing The Sun marked a return after five years and proved there was still plenty left in the tank. Now, 25 years into the Sola Rosa journey, comes New Tomorrows: a taut, considered EP that feels less like a statement and more like a bridge between chapters. The collaborators remain—singers, writers, players from both sides of the Tasman—but there’s a quiet sense of closure. A drawing of breath before something sharper.
That “something” is already coming: a new album lands later this year, with Spraggon stepping further into the foreground. Watch this space.