Office Dog’s dynamic, guitar-driven indie rock takes a subtle and textured turn on Doggerland (New West/Flying Nun). So much more than a salvage operation from the New Zealand trio’s 2024 debut, Spiel, this substantive seven-song EP might even be considered a bridge to what’s coming next for the band. The title refers to a once-inhabited chunk of land in Northern Europe that’s been claimed by the North Sea.
“Since themes of water, surfacing and things like that were naturally appearing in my lyrics as we worked on these songs in late 2023, we named the EP after it,” says Office Dog singer/guitarist Kane Strang, who offers a more detailed rundown here.
1) “Nancy”
“This has been a live staple of ours for a while. I wanted to put it first on the EP so it could work as some kind of transition from the era of our first album into this new one. The ‘Every shadow has been won by the sun’ line also sounds like it could’ve been on Spiel, since there were heaps of light/dark metaphors throughout that. The song is named after my grandma, who passed away just as Office Dog was forming, and I really wanted to pour all the feelings I had around that into a song. She’d been a very inspiring, positive figure for me, and it was a tough loss to process. I think that’s why it’s a bit of a slow-burner that builds into a big cathartic release at the end.”
2) “June”
“This is a different one for us. It has very few lyrics and is mostly instrumental. It was a nice learning experience for me, because my music has always been pretty lyric-heavy. It was good to realize that sometimes they aren’t necessary to get across an emotion or make something interesting. For me, the highlight of this song is definitely [Mitchell Innes’] drumming at the end. I remember we did a lot of live takes while we were recording it, and on the very last one, he did this ridiculous tom fill right before the heaviest section. It was just one of those moments in the studio you’re always kind of hanging out for.”
3) “Can’t Wait”
“We wrote this a few days before we went into Roundhead Studios with [producer De Stevens]. I pretty much wrote the lyrics on the day the others were doing some percussion. After Spiel, I was a bit burned out from loud, angular guitars and wanted to try experimenting with a slightly softer side of the band, which is how this song came about. Thematically, it’s one of the more self-reflective ones here. For me, it’s about starting to thaw out and feel a bit more hopeful for what’s around the corner.”
4) “Intact”
“In general, Doggerland is a lot more textural sounding than our other music, and ‘Intact’ is a good example of that. There’s that second guitar part, and De also added these synthy drones underneath it all, which aren’t super-noticeable but help exaggerate the more uplifting feeling the song has. The video was an amazing and very hectic experience to make … at an abandoned racecourse right near my childhood home. We spent a few nights there in the freezing cold shooting on old, very temperamental cameras.”
5) “And Everything”
“This was another one we wrote close to recording. I was nervous about it, since the instrumentation was pretty complex for us. I’m really happy with how it came together, though. It even became our sonic guiding light for the whole EP when it came to mixing in the end. This always seems to be the way for me in the studio: The ones you think are going to be simple take ages, and the ones you’re worried about come together quicker than you thought.”
6) “Dump No Waste, Flows To The Sea”
“This is probably my favorite track on the EP. We recorded it with two different setups—one for the quiet section, one for the big outro. De did such a great job blending them together. For the video, we stole my dad’s kayak to go film it at Lake Waihola, just outside of Dunedin. Funnily enough, when we showed up, there were about 30 people having a lakeside barbecue in front of the water playground we wanted to use. I think they were very confused.”
7) “The Surface”
“This song was originally a lot more layered and complicated, but it somehow made more sense the more we took away—which is how it wound up so stripped back. I like that the EP ends on this note, instead of a big, heavy outro like on Spiel, maybe because it leaves some space for reflection or something like that. Lyrically, it’s about finally getting to where you’ve wanted to be and not really knowing yourself in this new place.”
See Office Dog live.
