Grand Prix’s The Way of the Racer is a smart, lo-fi mix of alt-country and alternative-pop.

Andrew McKenzie (guitar, vocals) is joined by Michael Banks (bass), Davey Geard (drums, percussion) and Viv Treweek (trumpet) for this seriously cool – but always low-key – set of 11 McKenzie compositions.

Recorded in Wellington, The Way of the Racer has songs that sound like Nick Cave jamming with Calexico on old Lee Hazelwood tunes. Closing track What Kind of Man Is He? has this exact feel. At other times, the sound is more distinctly country-rock, thanks to the drunken-guitar-swagger of The Way of the Racer or the wafting trumpet of Sea of Cars, which could one day be put to use in a Tarantino film.