FLETCHER GULL - STUCK IN BERLIN
Fletcher Gull is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter based in the decadent city of Melbourne, Australia. With a style that appears to be an amalgam of folk, pop, and indie, he is making a name for himself in Australia. On August 30th, he released Stuck In Berlin; his latest single.
With an acoustic-centered sound, Stuck In Berlin starts off slow and intimate. With the assistance of vocals and lo-fi techniques in production, it builds to a heavier ambience that incorporates upbeat rhythms and thicker distortion. From this standpoint, I’d have to say that Stuck In Berlin isn’t my type of song. The piece seemed to lack that extra oomph I often crave; maybe it was the lack of prominent bass or something else entirely but I found myself growing bored. This is not to say that Gull is a bad musician - quite the contrary. He is still growing into his own style as an artist and person that I’m thrilled to observe because quite frankly, his writing is promising.
Gull spoke out about the song’s lyrics and meaning, saying “When I lived in Canada, I loved a German girl. But I left her to go live in the forest and plant trees in the spring. Her visa was about to run out anyway and she had to go back to Germany. I thought about her everyday and the photo I kept of her got me to sleep at night in my saturated leech-infested tent” through an Instagram post on August 31st. “Ain’t nobody special in Berlin, you have to stand out to fit in. What the hell are these people thinking? Living as a ghost in a footprint, ain’t nobody special in Berlin.” The chorus states; showing us Gull’s obvious discontent for the German capital. He continues to sing about ideas of freedom, questioning, and longing that get sort of muddled due to the song’s upbeat nature. It’s pretty remarkable how, when isolating the writing, the song seems to be sad and almost pouty but when you add the other elements, Stuck in Berlin becomes a snappy pop song meant to be danced to.
Stuck In Berlin is Fletcher Gull’s third single to be released this year; giving fans hope for a possible impending album or project. Gull is changing and developing with each new song and there’s no doubt in my mind that he will succeed in one way or another if he continues to strive for the greatness he is capable of.
Give Fletcher a follow to keep up with his music, and give Stuck in Berlin a listen here.