'I was like a zombie': Ladyhawke admits second album struggles

Ladyhawke says she had a tough time recording her second album, Anxiety. Photo / Richard Robinson

Ladyhawke says she was so tired while making her highly anticipated second album that she fell asleep in the studio.

The Kiwi rocker, who hit it big with her self-titled 2008 debut thanks to catchy singles Paris Is Burning and Dusk To Dawn, says she was exhausted after touring relentlessly following its release.

She told NME.com that her second album, called Anxiety and due out on March 19, was recorded in trying conditions.

"I had no idea how exhausted I'd be after I finished touring. I was physically incapable of doing anything. I tried to start recording about a month after I finished on tour and I turned up at the studio and just fell asleep. I was like a zombie," she said.

The album, recorded over the past year in the south of France, had a fitting title, said Ladyhawke.

"It's called Anxiety because every song has that sort of feeling, my mindset throughout the recording was a mixture of being so tired and just being worried the whole time.

"I'm a walking ball of anxiety. It completely sums up the album".

Ladyhawke, from Masterton, says fans can expect it to be more "rocky" than her first album, which won a swag of New Zealand Music Awards.

"The tone of it is definitely darker. It's still poppy and fun, but I listened to a lot of guitar rock when I was writing it, stuff like Pixies, Blur, Nirvana and I've always wanted to make a guitar record. There's no synth, but there's some organ.

"It's more of a straight-up rock record".

- Herald online