‘Berlin’ is the sound of a city trying to hold itself together while everything underneath it buckles.
Here, Belgium’s WHOLES turn that instability into a ferocious collision of new wave, noise-punk and post-hardcore, pairing the nervous pulse of the 80s with the uglier physicality of Butthole Surfers and The Jesus Lizard. Yet beneath all that abrasion sits a pop instinct strong enough for the chorus to punch through the chaos almost immediately.
Throughout, guitars scrape and twitch, while bass and drums propel everything with a relentless forward motion. Against them, comparatively restrained vocal brings an ominous calm, making the surrounding noise feel even more volatile.
Lyrically, ‘Berlin’ uses images of collapse, banking and disconnection to articulate the band’s criticism of capitalist systems and the endless cultivation of desire. Here, economic anxiety becomes physical scenery: borders, collapsing structures and lives seemingly reduced to transactions.
The track also serves as an intriguing entry into WHOLES/NOT WHOLES, a project that expands the band’s world by inviting five other artists to reinterpret their songs. The concept feels particularly suited to a group whose music already seems focused on distortion, fragmentation and what remains after familiar structures have been pulled apart.
After 2025’s A Mass In The Water, ‘Berlin’ suggests they are becoming even more confident in that volatility.
Ugly, catchy and exhilaratingly unstable, ‘Berlin’ finds WHOLES discovering a sweet spot where a genuinely memorable chorus can survive inside music that sounds determined to tear itself apart.