Doggerland

by Office Dog

Overview

Less than a year after the international release of their debut album, moody New Zealand indie rock trio Office Dog -- singer/songwriter and guitarist Kane Strang, bass player Rassani Tolovaa, and drummer Mitchell Innes, all of whom write together for the project -- return with the EP Doggerland. Described as an opportunity to experiment a bit before working on their second album, Doggerland was named for a once inhabited land mass now submerged by the North Sea. The title is indicative of the themes of loss and attempts at recovery evident on seven songs that put a premium on atmosphere, deliberate pacing, and active rumination. The circular, chorus-less "Nancy" starts things off with a constricted chord progression and trippy observations like "But every shadow has been won/By the sun" and "Not every mirror's had my face/As of late" that question proof of existence. When the song breaks loose a little tonally at the midway point, it seems to open the door for the crushing layers of distortion that accompany the final variation of its repeated phrases. Landing somewhere at the crossroads of slowcore, shoegaze, lo-fi, and anxious singer/songwriter-dom, the EP's exclusion of the more energized, driving type of entry from their debut becomes a defining character. The closest thing to that sort of song here is the also-more-melodic "Intact," but its shimmery and eventually noisy textures, along with its solidly midtempo nature, don't meet the criteria for catchy. That track falls at exactly the midway point of the seven-song set list. As it progresses, there are no happy endings in store on Doggerland, where even a song like the mostly acoustic, mournful "Dump No Waste, Flows to the Sea" ("Held you to the light/Made it once and broke it twice/Now I hear you in every sight") ends in an angsty cacophony, with Strang even raising his voice in a rare instance. With its slightly dissonant bass and simple guitar in rhythmic lockstep, closer "The Surface" starts with the words "I'm ready/But you first/It's your turn to surface/I don't know how this works/This new day/Will it hurt?" After hearing Doggerland, it's hard not anticipate a dark and immersive sophomore LP from the band, but without getting ahead of ourselves, the EP stands on its own merit. ~ Marcy Donelson

Product Details

Release Date:	10/11/2024
Label:	New West Records
UPC:	0607396585410
Rank:	124323

Tracks

1. Nancy
2. June
3. Can't Wait
4. Intact
5. And Everything
6. Dump No Waste, Flows to the Sea
7. The Surface

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Office Dog   Primary Artist