Our Man In Berlin have managed to carve out a unique corner in the Australian music scene through a combination of diligent touring and their unique sound, which combines melancholic, guitar-based songwriting with lush, rhythmic electronica.
The band recently delivered their stunning second EP, Spirit Down, a more mature, confident, and expansive effort than their previous release, framing Our Man In Berlin as one of Australia’s most exciting upcoming bands.
To celebrate the release of the Spirit Down EP, Our Man In Berlin will be hitting the road this July for a string of national tour dates, which will see them hitting up venues in Brisbane, Byron Bay, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.
Ahead of that however we caught up with the four piece who gave us a track by track run down of the new record. Check it out below and don’t miss the guys when they roll into your town. For tickets and more info visit their Facebook page.
Bones
Bones is probably my favourite song on the EP. It’s polyrhythmic and has tasty guitar parts from Trev and Dan, I think its pretty rad.
The skeleton for the song originated over a year ago at a jam when we were rehearsing for our last EP tour. From there justin and I demoed it pretty relentlessly for a couple of weeks. I wrote the majority of my vocal melodies in Justin’s kitchen whilst I was waiting for a kettle to boil.
Lyrically it’s pretty scattered, but I wrote the chorus line about how sad all of Tony’s Abbotts bullshit was making me. “Lose hope. I’m so sick of you man. Get out the way.”
Moliére
Moliére was the first single we put out from this EP. It’s got this really cool bassy breakdown in the chorus sections which I love and super frenetic ending which pretty much sums up how I was feeling at the time of writing the song.
The song is about someone important to me who was being controlled and manipulated. At the time I felt very powerless and frustrated by the situation. But in hindsight it’s probably been for the best.
Spirit Down
‘Spirit Down’ is the title track of the EP and it contains my favourite melodies. I think its the best “song” in a singer songwriter sense, but it’s arrangement and dynamic is something that I’ll never be certain of.
I think I probably worked on it for so long that I haven’t got much perspective left on it anymore. “You put your spirit down and called it survival” is kind of about giving up on what makes you truly happy in order to achieve some kind of mundane stability. I hope I never have to do that.
Separate
Separate has some complex rhythms in it and some amazing guitar work from the lads. I really like how it manages to sound both complex and subdued at the same time.
Personally I find it such an awkward yet creative arrangement which is why I love it – there’s such a small chance of the song even existing in my mind.
Muster
Muster is a home recording job. It’s something we are quite proud of because we did it with shitty gear in Justin’s bedroom.
I love how chilled it is compared to rest of the EP. I think it finishes things off nicely. If you listen till the end it has a really cool outro/chorus that kicks things up a notch.
Upcoming Tour Dates
Wednesday, 8th July 2015
The New Globe Theatre, Brisbane
Thursday, 9th July 2015
The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay
Friday, 10th July 2015
Spectrum, Sydney
Sunday, 12th July 2015
The Workers Club, Melbourne
Friday, 24th July 2015
Amplifier, Perth
