Although they first formed back in 2021—the same year their vocalist Kane Strang released his last solo LP—New Zealand alt-rockers Office Dog first surfaced at the very end of 2022 with the singles “In the Red” and “Tightropes,” which would both appear midway through their debut album Spiel a year later (and four months after that here in the States, courtesy of New West Records). Channeling grunge, slacker rock, and various other ’90s rock subgenres, the debut marked an explosive introduction to Strang’s new chapter as a collaborative member of a band rather than as a solo songwriter.
Following the US release of Spiel, Strang—along with bandmates Mitchell Innes and Rassani Tolovaa—played through “In the Red” and an additional early single, “Big Air,” for their “Neighborhoods” performance. Set up in a shady corner of a tree-lined greenspace in their hometown of Auckland, New Zealand, the band strips both tracks of their grungy muscle and indie-rock melodicism and repurposes them as jangly folk-rock tunes. Check out the full performance below.
