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Nov 21, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Violet Hirst

Auckland-based band Office Dog are a new indie rock trio led by singer/songwriter Kane Strang. Some may recognize Strang from his trio of solo albums released via Flying Nun Records, Dead Oceans, and Ba Da Bing! After the release of his 2021 album, Happy to Perform, Strang relocated from his hometown of Dunedin to Auckland and formed Office Dog with drummer Mitchell Innes and bassist Rassani Tolovaa.

The band debuted this year with a pair of new singles, “Big Air” and “Gleam,” and today they’re sharing news of their forthcoming debut album, Spiel, due out worldwide on January 26th via New West Records. As Strang describes, Spiel was born out of a series of personal and emotional upheavals, which he processed with the help of his new band. He says the band became “a ladder out of a pretty rough spot.” Accompanying news of the album, the band are also sharing another new track, “In The Red,” premiering with Under the Radar.

After the frenetic pace of the record’s first two singles, “In The Red” comes off as more raw and wounded. The track finds the band playing with a quiet-loud dynamic that gets more bleary and distorted as the track winds onward, building until Strang’s vocals get tangled in the blurry haze of churning guitars and crashing drums. The turmoil and tension make for moments of both angst and catharsis as Strang’s lyrics explore the ache of aging: “Life’s just chasing your mind round the body you get / Time spent / ‘Till we’re all / ‘Till we’re all in the red”

Strang says of the track, “Writing ‘Spiel’ is such a blur now, but ‘In the Red’ is a song that I have a vivid memory of writing while staying at my parent’s place - one of those late night things that comes very quickly and where the lyrics just kind of fall out of you. Now I think it’s the most raw and vulnerable track on the album, and one that feels like a real release every time we play it.”

Check out the song below. Spiel is out January 26th via New West Records.