Bare ambition pays off for The Naked and Famous:

For a small country, New Zealand hits above its weight.

Boasting just over four million souls (and 31 million sheep), Kiwi land has produced a disproportionate number of quality artists. Neil and Tim Finn, Bic Runga, hip-hop artist Che Fu, Lorde, The Datsuns . . . the list goes on (for a little bit anyway).

But the band who have really put Aotearoa (as the Maoris call their homeland), on the musical map is a five piece from Auckland who have gone on to conquer the world.

The Naked and Famous play euphoric pop with epic bite. Their award-winning, half-million-selling first album Passive Me, Aggressive You was a worldwide hit, singles Punching In A Dream and The Sun, in particular, being used everywhere from Vampire Diaries and Made in Chelsea to Gossip Girl and Grey’s Anatomy.

Now Alisa Xayalith, Thom Powers, Aaron Short, Jesse Wood and David Beadle are back with follow-up In Rolling Waves. Alisa, 27, who sings and plays keys, tells me the album is the sound of the band growing up. “We were in our early 20s when we wrote our first songs and I was still figuring out my vocal capabilities. I was so inexperienced. But we have spent the past couple of years touring and that experience has accumulated.

“Age has a lot to do with it.”

And it is already going down well with fans. “It’s awesome looking out and seeing the audience singing along to the new songs,” she says, with genuine delight.

So successful have they become, the band, who take their name from a line in a song by trip-hop artist Tricky, have outgrown their Australasian roots and moved to Los Angeles. Indeed she is speaking to me from the US Consulate in Belfast, where she is desperately trying to renew her American visa, before playing a show.

“The New Zealand music industry is very small,” she says. “You can tour the whole place in a week and hit the ceiling pretty fast. It’s difficult for New Zealand bands to go international and we were lucky to get catapulted out of that.”

So how are they getting on, on the other side of the Pacific? “It’s great, we’ve been living there for the past year-and-a half,” she says.

“I was apprehensive about moving there for a long time, because I didn’t want to get all ‘LA’. At the same time, I didn’t want to just get to know the really touristy areas. It was meant to be a short-term thing, but thankfully we managed to scratch through the surface of it and actually find the real place beneath the veneer you read about. It’s not all Disneyland.”

The band took up residence in Laurel Canyon — an august musical address made famous by previous residents Frank Zappa, Jim Morrison, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Love. and Joni Mitchel.

“It’s fantastic, not least for the musical history,” she says. “We got a house, just the five of us, and the album was largely written there.

“We all get on so well, and it was great working in the house. There’s no room for arguments when you live and work together. Most bands need their own space, but we were fine. There was this real growing sense of community and family. We’re really lucky.”

The move to America followed a frenzied period of touring for the band, which threatened to burn them out. Alisa recalls: “I was living out of a suitcase,” she says. “When we got to LA, I was so anxious and had a bit of a meltdown. But then I pulled myself together, bought a bed and a chest of drawers and suddenly I felt like I was at home. It was such a small thing, but meant so much. I’m a real homebird. I like being in and cooking, so I needed those foundations.”

Their collective home also served as their studio. And how was it living with the boys? “It was no big deal,” she says. “I grew up with three brothers so I was used to it. And we are like a big family. It was refreshing to meet up with other girls for a bitch and a moan though!”

They have all since moved out. “I am living like a gypsy,” she laughs.

The new album is an impressive collision of synth pop and epic rock, made unique by the interplay of Alisa’s crystalline vocals and those of fellow singer Thom. And it was produced by their own fair hands.

The first single was Hearts Like Ours, a climactic slice of fizzing electronic pop with a driving bass and euphoric melody.

“It seemed to make sense because it’s a real bridge between the two albums, and there are some songs on our first album that really connected with a lot of people,” she says.

“After a few years away we wanted to release something that sounded familiar and will hopefully connect with people all over again.”

• The Naked and Famous n O2 Academy, Oxford n Saturday n Tickets: £15 from ticketweb.co.uk

The Kiwi role of honour . . .

FOR a country with a population much smaller than Scotland, New Zealand has made a serious contribution to the worlds of rock and pop. The Naked and Famous may grab attention now, but there are many other Kiwi bands and artists who deserve recognition. Here are our favourites:
* Crowded House: Okay, they were formed in Melbourne, but they are really a Kiwi creation, started by singer-songwriter Neil Finn and later boasting his brother Tim. The pair had previously found fame with Split Enz – best known for their anthemic I Got You.

* Bic Runga: Among NZ’s highest-selling artists, singer-songwriter Bic’s reputation has spread way beyond her native Christchurch, three of her albums going to the top of the NZ charts. Her sister Boh was singer with rock outfit stellar*.

Hot right now: Gin Wigmore

* Gin Wigmore: Aucklander Gin is one of the best of the current crop of rising stars, with 2009 debut Holy Smoke and follow-up Gravel & Wine essential listening. Her striking looks, heavy-make up, tattoos and feisty lyrics banish any doubts over the island nation’s ability to rock out.

* Dave Dobbyn:  Former member of Th’ Dudes and DD Smash, Dobbyn is best known as a solo artist. His song Slice of Heaven has been dubbed New Zealand’s alternative national anthem.
* Die! Die! Die!: This beefy post-punk outfit are the harder side of NZ music — with jangly guitars and breakneck drumming overlain by aggressive vocals.
* Opossom: Opossom deals in skittering electronica and quirky art-pop topped with dreamy vocals.
* Lawrence Arabia: James Milne’s alter ego is famed as a solo star and a member of The Reduction Agents.
* The Bats: A great line in psychedelic country pop has kept this Dunedin scene band going since the 1980s.
* Fat Freddy’s Drop: Fusing reggae, dub, jazz, and dance, the Wellington lads are sure-fire party starters.
* The Datsuns: One of the few Kiwi bands to also make it big over here, the garage rockers’ 2002 eponymous debut album reached 17 in the UK charts.
* Lorde: Auckland’s teen sensation Ella Yelich O’Connor, 17, is the first Kiwi to have a number one single in the USA – with her tune Royals. Check out synth/dark wave debut Pure Heroine.