Fresh off supporting Teddy Swims on his New Zealand tour and picking up a ‘Track of the Week’ nod on BBC Radio 1, rising New Zealand band Borderline have unveiled their latest single, “Watching It Burn”.
The new track sees the Auckland quartet lean back into the rock influences that first bonded them as musicians, delivering a towering wall of distorted guitars and thunderous drums that builds toward an explosive saxophone solo. It’s a bold moment for a group still only just entering their twenties but already drawing international attention for their genre-blending mix of pop, rock and funk.
“’Watching It Burn’ is one of our favourite songs,” the band said in a statement. “It hits you with this colossal wall of sound, huge distorted guitars and massive drums that takes us back to our rock roots. It’s so much fun to play live as a band, especially with the saxophone solo at the end, which Max absolutely crushes. This is the Borderline track we want people to turn up loud and sing while driving with the roof down. It’s about watching something that you’ve worked so hard to build just burn to nothing. Whether it’s someone or something, it’s an area so many people can relate to in their own way.”
Borderline formed in Auckland and features Ben Glanfield (guitar, vocals, keys), Jackson Boswell (drums, vocals), Matthew McFadden (lead guitar), and Max Harries (bass). The four musicians have been friends since childhood, first releasing music together while still in high school. Their debut single “Spinning”, released in 2022 when the band members were just 16, landed on the Hot 40 Singles chart and the Radioscope Most Added charts.
Since then, the group’s rise has been rapid. Borderline closed out 2025 with two singles landing in the top 10 New Zealand songs on radio. “New Romance” reached No. 1 on the Hot Aotearoa Singles chart and held the title of the country’s most-played local song on radio for 14 weeks. Both “New Romance” and “Tainted” were also named ‘Track of the Week’ on BBC Introducing on Radio 1, marking a significant breakthrough for the young band on the international stage.
Support from tastemakers has followed. Teddy Swims has praised the group’s live energy, saying Borderline “just rip it out there” on stage, while Australian broadcaster Ash London has described them as “without a doubt future superstars of indie pop.”
Their growing reputation has already taken them well beyond Aotearoa. In 2025 the band delivered standout performances at South by Southwest and The Great Escape, two of the industry’s most influential discovery festivals.
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With an extensive North American tour scheduled for April, Borderline’s momentum shows little sign of slowing. “Watching It Burn” arrives as the next step in that trajectory — a track that captures the raw energy of a band still early in their career but already playing to global expectations.
The single is out now accompanied by an official music video directed by Tom Grut, with Australian and New Zealand tour dates expected to be announced soon.
Stream Borderline’s “Watching It Burn” now.
