Gin, whose sound is something of a mash up of Neil Young, Blondie and Macy Gray, spent a reasonably carefree adolescence teaching herself the guitar and scribbling down notebooks full of lyrics. And now, after releasing her debut EP Extended Play, she's garnering attention worldwide. Things are only getting bigger for the girl from New Zealand with the whiskey dry voice.

The song, titled "Hallelujah," and another Gin original, "Angel Fire," went on to win the International Songwriting Contest in New York, beating 11,000 songwriting aspirants from 77 countries. "'Hallelujah' was my way of telling my family I had dealt with dad's passing," Gin says. "And honestly, I didn't want to share these feelings with anyone else. I wanted the moment for myself." That moment is now the poignant and potent centerpiece of 'Extended Play.'

'Extended Play,' produced by Tony Buchen (Blue King Brown, The Whitlams, Macromantics, Kid Confuscious), contains "Hallelujah," "These Roses," "SOS," "Under My Skin" and "Easy Come Easy Go," all driven by a startling voice. "Gin presents her songs with a voice of contradiction,'' notes Tony Buchen. "It is raspy yet delicate, forceful and fragile.''

Gin smiles as she asks: How? Why? "I try not to think too much about where my voice comes from," she says. "I'm channeling characters and emotion. I keep moving and I tell stories." Gin's journey continues as she pens her imminent debut album out later this year.

These Roses