On August 15th, 2025, Bret McKenzie will return with Freak Out City, his forthcoming second solo album worldwide from Sub Pop.
In 2022, Bret released Songs Without Jokes, his well-received solo debut for Sub Pop. His new album, Freak Out City, is a fresh collection of songs he developed while performing live across New Zealand and the United States with his eight-piece band The State Highway Wonders. The influence of his musical heroes Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman resonates again on this record, where Bret playfully weaves humour and heart into his songs.
Recorded in both Los Angeles and New Zealand, the album was co-produced by Bret and his long-time collaborator, Mickey Petralia. It was also mixed by Michael Harris at East West Studios and mastered by Ruairi O’Flaherty at Nomograph Mastering in Los Angeles. The musicians on the record are a mix of LA-based players Leland Sklar, Dean Parks, Drew Erickson, Chris Caswell, and Joey Waronker, as well as New Zealand musicians Ben Lemi, Leo Coghini, Jacqui Nyman, Moana Leota, Iris Little, and Justin Clarke.
Freak Out City features the singles ‘Shouldna Come Here Tonight’, the title track ‘Freak Out City’, and today’s offering, ‘All I Need’.
Bret says of ‘All I Need’: “This is a love song for my wife, Hannah. We’ve been together a long time. 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.
“It started on the piano with the chorus. From the very beginning, I could hear the horn stabs and the band sound in my head. I loved the chorus so much I started performing the song live before I’d finished the verses.
“I remember around this time I watched the new Beatles documentary ‘Get Back’. 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 song was recorded at The Surgery Studio in Wellington with Lee Prebble engineering. It took a few swings to capture this one, but I love where it landed. Initially, it had an instrumental outro, but I was singing along with the recording at home one night and wondered if there might be a vocal sing-along part. I was just rocking out with myself, doing my best Paul McCartney impression. I didn’t seriously think it would make the track. But when we were recording vocals that week, we tried singing the idea with backing singers Iris Little and Moana Leota. We were all looking at each other, going ‘yeah, that’s cool.’ We tracked it immediately, and I think you can feel that energy in the recording. We’re pretty much singing it for the first time when we recorded it.”
Bret and The State Highway Wonders will hit the road in support of Freak Out City this autumn – dates to be announced soon.
Bret McKenzie – Freak Out City
Tracklisting:
1. Bethnal Green Blues
2. Freak Out City
3. The Only Dream I Know
4. All the Time
5. That’s the Way the World Goes ‘Round
6. All I Need
7. Eyes on the Sun
8. Too Young
9. Highs and Lows
10. Shouldna Come Here Tonight
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