There’s a kind of unspoken quota at Torstraßenfestival for songwriting from New Zealand. In 2012, Tiny Ruins brought Z-Bar to its ecstatic knees; the year before that, Aldous Harding left all Grüner Salon visitors winded. This year’s flag-bearer of South Pacific songcraft is the Berlin outfit Bannerman, brainchild of the songwriter and singer Ritchie Setford. Furrowed brow and beard act as generous clues: here we have a sinister species of folk-rock/Americana/alternative country equipped with a voice whose intensity could unsettle Nick Cave. And Setford, like Cave, has found his bad seeds: the band, composed of drums, bass, guitar, and trombone, intersects with the illustrious ranks of the Neukölln Country Club to bring the dynamic compositions in all of their drama, melancholy, extravagance, and placidity to life on stage. The cheerlessness of Setford’s texts («These are uncertain times […] You got the wrong man […] I’ve lost everyone») is woven into crafty, poppy arrangements, and bittersweet symphonies for nostalgic moments and laid at our feet.

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