Dimmer was the name under which New Zealand musician Shayne Carter (formerly of Straitjacket Fits, The DoubleHappys, and Bored Games) recorded and played music from 1994.

"[1] For a short while, a three-piece version of Dimmer coalesced, with Peter Jefferies (This Kind of Punishment, Nocturnal Projections) on drums and Lou Allison on bass.

– Shayne Carter, Dead People I Have Known, 2019 On 17 June 1994 this line-up debuted with an "abrasive and deliberately uncommercial" seven-song set at the Empire Hotel.

[1] Flying Nun founder Roger Sheppard said that the song "sounds rollickingly amazing in that strident 'here I am, listen to me' way that only an instrumental can communicate.

[10][11] An early version of the Dimmer song "Seed" appeared on Star Trackers, a cassette that was given away with issue 4 of Australian label Spunk Records' Spunkzine in winter 1995.

One short-lived line-up included bassist Chris Heazlewood (King Loser) and drummer Matt Middleton, who released what Carter caller "a series of near-genius cassettes" under the name Crude.

[6]: 301 A four-piece line-up of Carter, Heazlewood, Cameron Bain (guitar) and Robbie Yeats (drums, The Dead C) began sessions that were intended to result in a debut Dimmer album.

Carter called this "the baddest early version of Dimmer", but the sessions ended in what he described as "tears, soap operas, that kinda stuff" and resulted in only a short EP.

[23][24] At least one song, "Seed", predated Carter's move to Auckland, an early version of it having been one of the tracks recorded in the mainly-abandoned Dunedin sessions of 1995.

As reviewer Nick Bollinger put it in The Listener, "Carter could have ridden the momentum they [Straitjacket Fits] created by promptly launching another axe-wielding line-up.

"[28] Gary Steel's review in Metro magazine called it "possibly one of the most original, daring, and outrageously well-defined pieces of musical art to have emanated from this country".

At the 2001 bNet NZ Music Awards the album won Best Rock Release and Carter was named Most Outstanding Musician, although that trophy was lost at the ceremony.

[6]: 316 While working on the next Dimmer album, Carter listened to "heaps of Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk", which became a point of contention with his record label, Sony.

Inspired by jazz musicians like Monk and Davis, Carter decided that on his next album he "wanted to hear mistakes and fumbly human stuff.

This album featured 19 musicians other than Carter, included backing vocals from Anika Moa and a returning Bic Runga, strings arranged by Graeme Downes, and (on "Getting What You Give") the Fat Freddy's Drop horn section.

A live Dimmer performance broadcast on Radio New Zealand in 2004 featured Carter, Anika Moa (guitar/vocals), Willy Scott (drums), Ned Ngatae (guitar), Mike Hall (bass), Andy Morton (keyboards), and Heather Mansfield (glockenspiel).

Common themes included positive comparisons to I Believe You Are A Star and praise for Carter continuing to produce styles of music different to his previous work.

"[21] In 2006 Carter put together a Dimmer line-up that he described as "pretty much a pick-up band": guitarist James Duncan (SJD, Punches), drummer Dino (Constantine) Karlis (HDU), and bassist Justyn Pilbrow (Elemeno P).

[47][48] He had songs that he'd already written on guitar, and after "two or three weeks' rehearsal" the band recorded the third Dimmer album, There My Dear, in a local bowling club.

"- Shayne Carter, September 2006[46]Among eight guest musicians Anika Moa and Bic Runga returned as backing vocalists and Don McGlashan played euphonium on two tracks.

[46][56] Videos were made for singles "Don't Even See Me" and "You're Only Leaving Hurt", the latter directed by Gary Sullivan (who appeared on every Dimmer album except this one) and granted $5,000 from NZ On Air.

He's not so brooding on There My Dear, his guitar lurches and breathes to full effect...And his songwriting is tops...Carter is often held up as New Zealand rock royalty.

Their 2007 trip to the US, which included shows with the Brian Jonestown Massacre and at South By Southwest, was Dimmer's first tour outside New Zealand – Carter hadn't played in America since Straitjacket Fits in 1993.

[72] Critic Graham Reid said Degrees of Existence was "better and more consistent than that Dimmer debut [I Believe You Are a Star] and also than most of the Fits' later material...A real keeper of depth and intensity.

[74][75] In 2011, Carter's 'Last Train to Brockville' tour saw him play songs from his full career – Bored Games, The DoubleHappys, Straitjacket Fits, and Dimmer – with backing from Sullivan on drums and bassist Vaughan Williams.

[78][79] In 2011–12 the pair had both been a part of The Adults, a project led by Jon Toogood and also including former Dimmer recruits Anika Moa and Nick Roughan.

[86][87] Kelly Sherrod (née Steven) moved to Nashville, and was based there while she and James Duncan (who was still in Auckland) worked on the first Punches album in 2011.

At the same gig, on 9 February 2018, Carter also reunited with Straitjacket Fits bandmates John Collie and Mark Petersen to play songs from that band's catalogue.

[95] The same band line-ups from February's one-off show played five more dates in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin near the end of the year.

Roughan, who contributed to Dimmer's first three albums and would have been playing keyboards and live electronics, was replaced by Durham Fenwick (Green Grove).