Estelle Clifford: Bret McKenzie - Freak Out City

One half of the iconic Kiwi musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, Bret McKenzie is back with another solo album. 

‘Freak Out City’ is a collection of songs he developed while performing live across NZ and the US with his eight-piece band The State Highway Wonders.  

The album is eclectic, filled with comedic and theatrical elements, and Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the album. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at b.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
O.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Mother calls me, Yes, this is ah my songs.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Use that that is Bret Mackenzie. You recognize the voice
a kind of an ecliptic little sound, isn't it. The
song is called freak Out City, the album is called
freak Out City. Is Stelle Clifford is our music review
She never freaks out, but she's with us now morning.

Speaker 5 (01:01):
If it could happen to you, it could happen to me.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:03):
It's just it's so k Like I'm already singing.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Along to this album and I've only given it a
couple of lessensped yesterday. But there's just something about his
music that gets under your skin. Yep, And I like
that it's kind of got Like that song in particular,
has this like disbelieving Wow, can you believe that this
can kind.

Speaker 5 (01:24):
Of happen in the world?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, but it still has this sort of like humor
running underneath it and delivered in that quirky, fun kind
of way that I think this is Brett Mackenzie's thing now,
isn't it? Like you could imagine it could become a
whole show. I think the live version of this would
be quite fascinating, and I don't know, I almost expect

(01:48):
it to be like a musical show, like a stage show.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Yeah right, No, it does.

Speaker 5 (01:53):
It does sound like that. Yeah, I don't know if
you think this whole album should be a stage show.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
But there's kind of got that sound behind it, and
I think that speaks a lot into how he's done
so well at creating a career for himself and that
he writes music for film and those kind of productions.
And he's also so this album here, he wanted to
do it like it was like a seventies live band,
So he wanted that kind of sound. And I also

(02:18):
really liked that he wanted to pay tribute to his dad.
So his dad passed away a couple of years ago,
his biggest fan, as you are with you with your children.
But he really liked music that you could hear the lyrics,
understand the lyrics, and you could sing along. Yeah, And
so that's what he's really captured well here. I think
a lot of Brett Mackenzie's music is like that. You
can pick up on the lyrics, the catchy melodies, and

(02:40):
then before you know it. You know the songs and
you're you're singing along to them. So I kind of
love that he's had that in the back of his
mind while creating this and outside of film, which comes
with like, we want this song to be this long,
it has to have this in it, it has to
have this beat.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
He gets to play a little.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Bit more when he does his individual stuff, but still
I think with that quirky storytelling, I.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
Mean it's still very quirky storytelling because he's an incredible
Like the thing is where part of the concourse, I
feel like people kind of forget just how talented they
are as musics. I mean, obvious comedians and all of that,
but like Britt mackenzie has real musical chops.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Absolutely, this is a This is a guy who grew
up as a kid being He grew up in the
National Youth Orchestra right like so, and he and he
played didn't he play Obo or something something obscure and
jazz musician background, which means they they are able to jam,
they're able to follow a lead. And he tests his
life band with that quite a lot. And he's not
afraid to leaven. I wouldn't say the mistakes, but the

(03:41):
stuff that kind of naturally happens, he's quite good at
capturing that.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
I think he likes the thrill of that live, crazy
setting's going to go.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
So if you can capture that energy and put it
into music, even though there might be some underlying dark humor,
there might be some quirky little sound effects that go
into the production, there's there's Yeah, there's like a lot
of talent that goes mind. I think it also says
a lot when you go back and listen to Flight
to the Concords how much he must have been quite
the driving force behind writing a lot music.

Speaker 5 (04:13):
The music, yeah, and then the delivery.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
And performance sort of came from there. This is a
guy who's born into music, really, isn't he? A real
beautiful song that's on this album. He actually has finally
written a song for his wife. I mean, they've only
been together for nearly three decades and it's got this
real New Orleans jazzy vibe, which I think again plays
into that quirky sort of music. When the full band's
walking down the street having a festival, it's got that.

(04:39):
I think he should pay tribute to her. I don't
imagine it's easy to be with someone who's a traveling.

Speaker 5 (04:44):
Muso so to share his love for her.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
And oh yeah, I think it's it's a really pretty
beautiful song. It's quite simple, I guess in its creation.
But some of the best love songs are for sure.
You don't have to you don't have to be too
tricky about it, right, All I need is that song,
and yeah, it gave me. It's got the warm, fuzzy
feel and I think actually a lot of this album
kind of does it made me feel happy? Like overall

(05:11):
this album might be talking about social commentary on what's
happening in life, you know, but but.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
The actual style is so is there anything So there's
nothing that's too sort of maudlin or you know, there's
no ballady kind of things. All, it's all everything's quite right.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Again, he's someone who's he's quite open about his fandom
for Paul McCartney, and so it has that songwriting kind
of style. He could just easily play this music guy
and his guitar, or then he can add that full band,
full production, and there's there's more of that. There's more
of the orchestral full band stuff. Maybe some of the
songs would be just as beautiful and nice if he

(05:49):
did scale it back a little bit, which he does
a little bit on the All I Need Is Love song,
but predominantly it's got that full band kind of big
brightness and backing about it. And and that's okay though,
Like if that's where he wants to play and he
wants to be surrounded by.

Speaker 5 (06:04):
Lots of people, then so bad.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
He's going to be touring this album in the States
in October and teasing that he might be back to
tour this album late.

Speaker 5 (06:14):
Summer for us.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
Yeah, that'd be great.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
You'll have the album well under your skin by the time,
you know, he gets to And if you just want
some quirky energy, there's a bit of somber jazz. He's
been influenced by a lot of styles, but for the
most part as a pretty upbeat take. Let's not get
too low and gloom on what's happening, you know, like
it's happening, but let's have a positive outlook on on
what that means.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
So very good, Okay, cool, So what did you give it?

Speaker 2 (06:39):
It's an am for me, okay, Fresten, Yeah, I will
very much time.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
So the freak out City is the album from Britt McKenzie.
Will play but more in a few minutes. Thank you
so much. A Stelle Astelle Clifford is our music reviewer.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
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