Active since 1989, the Renderers inhabit the dark side of the New Zealand indie scene, playing a brooding country/blues-influenced style of distortion-laced psychedelic space rock. Their songs range from sparse and shadowy laments to more upbeat (yet still tense and menacing) pop songs. The group's only two constant members have been husband-and-wife duo Maryrose and Brian Crook (of numerous NZ bands including Flies Inside the Sun, the Terminals, and Scorched Earth Policy), with contributions from members of the 3Ds, the Verlaines, Pumice, and countless other bands. After forming in Christchurch (also home to the Bats and Bailter Space) at the tail end of the '80s, the Renderers released their countrified debut full-length, Trail of Tears, on Flying Nun in 1991. A single called "Touch of Evil" followed in 1993, and the group made its American debut that year with the "Million Lights" 7" on Merge Records. The band's second album, That Dog's Head in the Gutter Gives Off Vibrations, appeared on Chicago-based Ajax Records in 1994, and was followed by The Surface of Jupiter in 1996. The group's final recording of the 1990s was A Dream of the Sea, which appeared on Siltbreeze in 1998 and was one of their most acclaimed albums. While the group's ever-shifting lineup continued performing and recording, the next Renderers album didn't appear until 2006. Ghosts of Our Vegas Lives was co-released by 3 Beads of Sweat and Tinsel Ears, and was credited to Maryrose Crook with the Renderers. Following this album, they joined with members of Sandoz Lab Technicians for a more experimental project called Renderizors, debuting in 2007 with the album Submarine on Last Visible Dog. The label also released the next Renderers full-length, Monsters and Miasmas, in 2009. The group moved to Ba Da Bing for its 2011 album A Rocket into Nothing, recorded during a series of earthquakes that affected New Zealand, eventually causing Maryrose and Brian to relocate to California. In 2013, a Renderers compilation LP titled Measured Strychnine Invitations was released by Exiled Records, and a second Renderizors album (Vivid Cloud/Lucky Din) came out on Grapefruit Records. The Renderers' eighth full-length, In the Sodium Light, arrived on Ba Da Bing in 2016. ~ Paul Simpson