With King Gizzard, Parcels and modern-sounding The Byrds seasoning sprinkled in, Othrship's 'Looking For A New Home - Part One' is their first new music since 2019.
The experimental psych-rock project of Sydney-based Henry Manuell, Othrship meld jazz and orchestral elements with experimental arrangements to create a contemporary sound that harks back to the glorious '70s.Part one of a trilogy, 'Looking For A New Home' details the voyage of the Othrship crew as they seek new lands for their people to inhabit.
A chugging, galactic groove opens the Bowie-Brian Eno-inspired soundscape filled with mellow, yet bright synths that quickly absorbs into a guitar-heavy, saxophone-laced seductive melody that thrums joyously.
"From the captain's perspective, 'Looking For A New Home' is about the crew's isolation in the vastness of space, recounting their story and the impossibleness of their mission," Henry says.
Ahead of the song's release tomorrow (17 February), scenestr is stoked to premiere the music video 'Looking For A New Home - Part 1' (directed and filmed by Bonnie Chai) today. Enjoy.
"The opening shot was a little tough and it was definitely the best way to start off Saturday morning. . . At 5am," explains Henry.
"We had a 25-minute walk-in along a dirt track for 15 minutes and then over sand dunes for another 10 minutes.
"We had a lot of film equipment and props to create the crashed spaceship. The best item of all was a freshly painted, arms-width sized, heavy piece of metal. Yay."
The model used for the Rocket Racer spaceship wasn't exactly created to life-size spec. "The spaceship is not actually that big *shock*! It's a toy, the size of my palm," confesses Henry.
Meanwhile, the song's galactic riff was created using an old-school instrument. "Believe it or not, the riff at the start was first played on banjo and was inspired by Klezma music," Henry says.
"Othrship has taken a slight turn from our older tracks; we're leaning more into our rock and synth sounds which, are needed for a 'space' band. The chords aren't intended to have a strong harmonic centre because of the mood aboard the spaceship."
