Straight out of Brisbane, The Dollar Bill Murrays are purveyors of dark and raucous indie-rock that plays like the soundtrack to every seedy night-out you had as a teenager. They burst into ears around the country last year with their breakthrough EP Always On, and since then have dropped another two cuts, the most recent being brand new single ‘The Shape You Take’.

Full with swank and swagger, the track kicks off with some rolling drums and a thunderous bass groove, before filling out with a menacing guitar lead and some almost-sleazy vocals. Touching on themes of lustfulness and craving, the track starts out smooth and sophisticated, but gets more confident as verses pass, brazenly claiming “I break ice, we bend rules” over fuzzed-out guitars and building drums. By the time ‘The Shape You Take’ reaches its conclusion, it’s an undeniable dancefloor filler, with angular guitars soaring over a pounding drum beat, and pop hooks aplenty.

As hard-hitting as it is danceable, ‘The Shape You Take’ is a triumphant return for The Dollar Bill Murrays, so we had a chat to the band to find out what influenced the song’s creation.

Rachit (drums): In my drumming, I’m always chasing this fine balance between not playing boring parts and creating my own style, but having the maturity to rein things in so that I’m not overplaying. I’m fascinated by Thom Green from alt-J’s playing as I think he’s a really great example of this. Thom suffers from major hearing loss due to Alport syndrome and has developed a really percussive, almost electronic sounding style of playing with a lot of rhythmic variations and accented voicings. Rather than just relying on cymbals (he has none) to wash things out and lift them up, as is often the case with rock music, Thom really thinks outside of the box to create unusual parts that don’t sound unnatural to the normal listener. In ‘The Shape You Take’ I do bring cymbals in as the song progresses because I’m not opposed to their tonal qualities, but I keep things tighter than how I first approached the song. During the verse and the first two choruses, cymbal work is pretty minimal as the tighter rim sounds and multiple tambourine and cabasa layers propel things forward whilst the low tom and kick drum hits punch things in with the bass guitar. As the song opens up and builds, that's when more of the washy cymbals start getting added to the mix.


Jamiroquai - 'Canned Heat' from Synkronized

Antii (guitar): I actually started out on bass, and hearing Jamiroquai was the first time it kind of clicked that I could actually challenge myself on the instrument. From learning their music, I picked up the classic disco/funk technique of bouncing the same note between octaves to keep things moving in a track. Since moving across to guitar, that habit has stuck around, and it comes through in the verses of 'The Shape You Take'.


22-20s - 'Such A Fool' from 22-20s

Antii: To build the last chorus without it descending into complete chaos, we looked to layering less intense parts. The finishing touch for the guitars was a gritty chord part with some classic British chime inspired by the steadily, but constantly rising intensity of 22-20s' mid-'00s classic 'Such a Fool'.


Methyl Ethyl - 'Ubu' from Everything Is Forgotten

Felix (vocals): Leading up to the production of 'The Shape You Take', I’d been listening to a vastly different mix of music. Stepping out of my heavier playlists, I was inspired by bands like Methyl Ethel, who create amazing vocal hooks and use great melodies. 'Ubu', the second track off their 2017 release Everything is Forgotten, was definitely an inspiration for me in our latest single. The way that chorus gets stuck in your head is something else.


The Belligerents - 'Caroline' from Science Fiction

Paul (bass): Although tempting to get stuck into some heavy rock downstroked semiquavers on the bass, we decided that holding back and making sure that the bass hit with the drums consistently gave a far better feel. We wanted a fuzz sound that wasn’t too brutal but that still sounded a bit rough, so the tonespiration here from The Belligerents is pretty evident here.