Establishing the mood with an astral frequency, a dimensional bass performance, and textured percussion featuring cerebral guitar nuances, Microbes open City of Sails with intricacy, instrumental mastery, and dynamism.
The opus expands with the metaphorical and philosophical lyrics, “It’s freezing cold, this empty soul, this freedom killed by choice, who are we, lifetime crises, in our seas, we never speak…”. We immediately connect with the high emotional quotient of the song, and the conscious depth that comes to life at first. This evolves into an introspective commentary about the commercial nature of Auckland, the capital city of New Zealand.
Speaking on the release, the duo says, “City of Sails is our anthem for New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. The city has a picturesque harbour, hence the council tagline ‘City of Sails’. We’ve shoehorned some clumsy wordplay into a meditation on the commercial imperatives that keep the blood of the city pumping: ‘In the city of sails, what do you sell?’ Like most Western democracies, our nation has a growing wealth disparity problem that the song lightly alludes to.”
The track builds into a classic rock anthem with a touch of psychedelia, and a whole lot of thought. The vocal performances are anthemic and the stadium-ready energy is electric. Microbes tell us, “This song has an epic structure, like Stairway to Heaven or Belfast Child – a measured, reflective opening segues into a frenetic middle section with some visceral heft, then calms down for the coda. We included field recordings of seagulls and waves in the coda to convey a sense of place, sitting on the wharf in the suburb of Devonport.”
The finale is the most trippy part of the song, with the hypnotic vocals, seagull sounds, waves, and delivery of the line, “This is how I am now, the cash cow, (for) your disposal…” resonating like a mantra for thought.
We really connect with the zeitgeist commentary that manifests with City of Sails. It taps into intelligent lyrical notions, and timeless sonic vibes that invite us to dig deeper into Microbes‘ discography. They say, “We are essentially humanists, so we believe in a fair shake for everybody. We most value personal interaction, fun, connectedness and the ability of music to transport and transcend boundaries. In the age of extraction, we choose a communal song.”
Microbes is made up of Jacob Connor and Allister Ainsworth from Aotearoa, New Zealand. We learn that Allister is a keyboard virtuoso inspired by Visage, Japan, Pink Floyd, Gary Numan and Catherine Wheel, whilst Jacob sings and plays guitar and likes Soundgarden, Tool, INXS, Michael Jackson, Prince and early Simple Minds.
We have added City of Sails to our New Music Spotlight playlist and our TIMELESS and TRIPPY playlists, whilst we continue to explore Microbes‘ wider discography, including Dire Tribes, Naysayers, and Sky Burial.