tameBERSERK is the off-beat, psychedelic brainchild of James Pain. Based in London, the multi-instrumentalist is preparing to release his debut album, ‘Super Thinking’, on 7th November and has unveiled standout track ‘Favourite Years’ ahead of the release.
Combined with the charismatic vocals of Dominic Rose, tameBERSERK’s ‘Favourite Years’ is a whimsical, dream-like exploration that embraces percussive sounds and samples, favourably recalling artists like The Flaming Lips. Idiosyncratic, cerebral and downright weird, ‘Favourite Years’ centres around a maniacal doctor experimenting on someone with supernatural powers and tackles themes of control, jealousy, love and hate. The result is, like all good pop songs, a single that deals with kidnap, imprisonment, torture, psychotic doctors and squandered dreams.
Talking about the track, Pain had this this to say: “Like a lot of my songs, I mumble something until it sounds a bit like words, then maybe twig onto an idea based on that first line. ‘…and I love that I hurt you, yeah I do yeah I do…’ – of course I didn’t want to write a song about domestic abuse so worked around the idea of a secret laboratory, a sinister doctor experimenting on a person with supernatural powers. It’s about their complex relationship, and also a little Stranger Things S1 inspired.
Musically you could say it’s most well rounded track off my album, it incorporates all that I’m trying to put across with tameBERSERK which is catchy hooks, juxtaposition of sound/arrangement, crescendo moments and of course, the odd guitar solo. It’s just weird pop to me.”
Experimenting with genre has allowed tameBERSERK to stand out in a time when odd-pop bands like The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse are less abundant than in the early 00’s. The result is a song that is liberated and unbound by self-imposed parameters and tameBERSERK are all the better for it.
‘Favourite Years’ is out on 23rd November and is taken from the debut album ‘Super Thinking’ due for release on 7th November via Poster Boy Records.