Bret McKenzie has a new album on the way.
The Kiwi musician and comedian, best known as one half of Flight of the Conchords, will release Freak Out City on August 15th. It’s the follow-up to his 2022 solo debut Songs Without Jokes, released via Sub Pop.
His sophomore effort is a fresh batch of songs developed while performing across New Zealand and the United States with his eight-piece band, The State Highway Wonders.
Freak Out City was recorded in both Los Angeles and New Zealand, co-produced by McKenzie and long-time collaborator Mickey Petralia. The album features a mix of US and Kiwi talent, including Leland Sklar, Dean Parks, Drew Erickson, Chris Caswell, and Joey Waronker, alongside Ben Lemi, Leo Coghini, Jacqui Nyman, Moana Leota, Iris Little, and Justin Clarke.
Among the singles is “All I Need”, a love song McKenzie wrote for his wife, Hannah.
“We’ve been together a long time,” he says. “We always love each other, but let’s be honest, there are days we love each other more than other days. This song was from one of those days when we were especially in love.”
The chorus came first, with horn stabs and a full-band sound already in McKenzie’s head. He even began playing it live before the verses were done.
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“I remember around this time I watched the new Beatles documentary Get Back,” he reveals. George Harrison has a song idea, but doesn’t have the lyrics, and John Lennon’s advice is to just sing the word ‘pomegranate and the lyrics will come eventually.’ Hilarious. I loved this advice. So, for the entire tour, I sang ‘pomegranate’ where I had a gap in the verse. It became known as ‘All I Need (The Pomegranate Song).’”
The final version was tracked at The Surgery Studio in Wellington with Lee Prebble on engineering duties. McKenzie says the track went through a few versions before it clicked. An impromptu sing-along outro, originally just him messing around at home, ended up making the cut.
“We tried it with backing singers Iris Little and Moana Leota. We were all looking at each other like, ‘yeah, that’s cool.’ We tracked it immediately, and I think you can feel that energy in the recording,” he says.
Bret McKenzie and The State Highway Wonders will tour in support of the album later this year. Dates to come.
Bret McKenzie’s “All I Need” is out now via Sub Pop.
