The Mara Release New Album ‘Hot Sauce’
Taranaki genre-bending indie outfit The Mara release their new album, Hot Source, today, Friday September 4, 2026 – a vibrant collection of songs that captures the energy, personality and musical unpredictability that has become the band’s calling card.
Hailing from Ngāmotu New Plymouth, The Mara have built a sound that refuses to sit neatly inside one genre. At its heart is indie rock, but woven through the record are flavours of Latin music, Eastern European and Middle Eastern influences, folk, funk and the unmistakable warmth of a Kiwi summer.
The result is an album made for listeners who like their music colourful, adventurous and full of character.
Formed in Taranaki, The Mara have developed from a small collaborative project into a dynamic multi-instrumental band, combining guitars, bass and drums with accordion, keys, saxophone, trombone and layered vocals.
Hot Source brings those elements together across a collection of songs that range from infectious, playful and danceable to personal, reflective and emotionally charged.
For radio stations and music programmers, the album offers multiple potential singles and playlist tracks, with songs suited to alternative, indie, rock, roots and contemporary New Zealand programming.
The band would love radio teams to explore the album, find the tracks that connect with their audience and consider them for airplay, playlist rotation, feature programmes and New Zealand music shows.
For journalists, reviewers, music publications and other media, Hot Source also tells the story of a fiercely independent New Zealand band building something from the ground up in regional Aotearoa.
The Mara have developed a growing audience through releases, live shows and community projects while sharing stages with artists including Summer Thieves, Sojourn, Flaxxies, The Slacks and Black Comet.
Their music has already reached audiences well beyond Taranaki, while the band continues to maintain strong ties to the community that helped create it.
Frontman and songwriter Jordan Jones says Hot Source feels like the clearest representation yet of what The Mara is capable of.
“There’s a lot of freedom in this album. We’ve never wanted to sound like somebody else or feel restricted by what genre a song is supposed to belong to. If something excites us, we follow it.
“That means one song might have a completely different flavour from the next, but somehow when the whole band plays it, it still sounds like The Mara.
“We’d love radio stations to give the record a listen and find a song they connect with, and we’d love to talk with anyone who wants to dig deeper into the stories behind the album, the band and how we’ve built this project here in Taranaki.”
