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Adelaide’s Rogue Half are fresh faces on the scene, but have made a big impression with their arena ready debut EP, The Middle Distance, out tomorrow, Friday November 4.
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Teaming up with Chris Lalic of Windwaker to help build the production, the band have melded a unique mix of genres that form the backdrop of an impressive collection of songs exploring the turbulence of life, self and the emotions that manifest in relationships.
We caught up with vocalist Matt Keal ahead of the release who took us through the seven tracks that make up The Middle Distance.
Hurricane came about from frustrations with the way that we are born, work and die. An ode to my own existential crisis although there are some hopeful moments in the lyrics suggesting that there is a chance we can break it down and start again. High energy.
Death Throes was the first song we worked on for the EP with international sex icon and producer extraodinare Chris Lalic. We weren’t even sure initially if the song was going to make the cut, but as we worked on it more and added more elements it started to come together. It really set the tone for the rest of the EP and helped us focus in on the sounds we were looking for.
Definition of death throes: the violent movements and noises that are sometimes made by a person who is about to die
The song is about having someone in your life that you know is bad for you, but not being able to let go even though it may be for the best. Upbeat party banger, almost a vintage feel, with dark theme to the lyrics.
Inside Out is easily the oldest song on the EP. We have had the instrumental for the song written for a few years at this point. We were never sure what exactly it was or if it was even a Rogue Half song since it felt so different to anything we had ever done before. Writing vocals for it was always a struggle for us so we never felt motivated enough to commit to finishing it.
When we reached out to Lalic initially and organised our first sessions though it was the first song that really caught his attention. As soon as we worked on it and got the chorus down I think we all realised it was going to be a super strong song.
About liars, we don’t like liars. You can get caught up in someone’s words and actions, but eventually find that they were empty and meant nothing. I don’t know who hurt me.
The Sound of You is a song that was created right in the middle of the endless lockdowns during 2021. Everytime we planned to get to Melbourne to work with Lalic on the EP either one of our states would enter a lockdown, so this song was basically created over Zoom. We came up with the rough idea and structure of the song and then spent a day on Zoom with Lalic.
The process actually ended up being super productive, we were able to just bounce ideas back and forth and work through ideas super quickly. I think we were all surprised when the song came together as quickly and as good as it did. This song was a fun one to write lyrically, as the first few lines started off with a musical theme to the words. We rode that wave and continued with the theme all the way through.
The song is about longing for a different version of yourself, thinking back on times in the past with rose coloured glasses and wishing you could go back or make things turn out a different way.
if i’ve lost all belief. After fleshing out a few of the songs on the EP, we realised that one of our strengths coming into this release was our use of electronic elements. We leaned into this while writing this song, and came up with lots of different sounds and genres.
Lyrically, this song was a bit of an excuse to almost word vomit a lot of ideas that I had been collecting over the course of writing the rest of the EP. There are some callbacks to our older songs which was very satisfying for me personally to kind of tie up some loose ends. It comes from frustration and pain, and I think the end product turned out to be one of the cooler moments on the release.
Fever is about escaping bad situations, realising that you are strong enough to change your life if you take the plunge. A bit more of a positive song considering the generally depressing content of the rest.
who’s speaking to me? wouldn’t have traditionally fit under our umbrella. As a group we have always enjoyed making a broad variety of music, and so this was a fun writing experience. As soon as we wrote it, it quickly became clear that it was the final track of the EP.
Choir bit was cool (shoutout Lalic), and singing and writing for a higher falsetto register was a challenge that ended up turning out great.
