In 2011, Dave Baxter was riding a wave of popularity.

Having released his debut album under the moniker Avalanche City in late 2010, lead single Love, Love, Love went on to become a smash hit, rocketing to No 1 on the New Zealand charts, winning awards and being used in marketing campaigns.

But with success comes stardom – and for self-described “shy” Baxter, his newfound celebrity status never quite sat right.

“My small brush with fame at the start, when [my album] Our New Life Above the Ground was everywhere and Love, Love, Love was everywhere, I really didn’t like it,” he told Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night.

“I felt hugely uncomfortable. People were constantly staring, and you could hear people whispering - I could always hear someone. You can tell when people are talking about you, and I just felt really uncomfortable.”

“I’m generally pretty shy of the spotlight - it’s not my natural [state] and I don’t feel amazing when a light is shone on me.”

Since that first taste of fame, Baxter released two more albums in Avalanche City’s signature indie-folk style – 2015′s We Are For The Wild Places and 2019′s My Babylon.

The latter came amid a high-profile legal battle with Baxter’s former manager, who a court later found had stolen $300,000 in royalties from him. The betrayal was a painful experience for Baxter.

“I must have written 20 songs about that, and I was like, ‘This is your personal therapy, it’s not for inflicting on the public’. I think I only put two of those songs on the album. I was like, two’s enough for people, it doesn’t need to be all angst.

“But the song Prayed for Love, it felt to me like I said what I wanted to say and then I felt ready to move on. But ironically, after I did that, I took like a giant five-year break and didn’t release anything.

“It’s like, write that song, take a giant breath, sit down on a chair and just rest for a minute.”

In the intervening five years, Baxter toured Europe, had plans for another tour curtailed by Covid, and had two children – the combined toll of which he says left him “exhausted”.

But now, having spent so long away from the studio, Avalanche City has returned with two new singles, Keep That Love and Berlin Wall.

Baxter says he’s grateful there’s still an appetite for his music.

“To have a gigantic gap like that and still be able to do interviews and stuff – it’s amazing that people still care,” Baxter told Real Life.

“I came back on [to social media] and posted little studio snippets - that was the easiest way for me to get my foot back in and get my head in the frame of mind of releasing music again - and people loved it.

“It was good, and I was surprised that people were still there being like, ‘Please write more’.”

Baxter says the only reason he’s still making music is because people are connecting with it.

With more new music in the works, Avalanche City will play his first New Zealand show in five years at Wellington’s Winter Vibes festival on August 31, before performing two more gigs alongside friend and fellow musician Luke Thompson in Auckland and Tauranga in October.

• - Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7.30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here.