Dog Trumpet, the long-running project of brothers Peter O’Doherty and Reg Mombassa, have released Waltz Of The Wind, the haunting new single from their latest album Live Forever. The song captures everything that has defined Dog Trumpet for more than three decades – understated poetry, luminous melodies and the bittersweet interplay of nostalgia and imagination.
Waltz Of The Wind isn’t new to Peter O’Doherty. It’s a song he’s carried quietly for years, first written and recorded by New Zealand’s Windy City Strugglers and later handed to him on a mixtape by Sydney musician and author Peter Doyle. “It’s a wistful, sad song about a past love affair,” O’Doherty said. “It’s one of those beautiful tunes that just stays with you.”
Dog Trumpet’s version gently reshapes the original into something both timeless and distinctly their own. The brothers’ voices, warm and understated, are set against acoustic guitars, brushed drums and delicate harmonies. The performance carries the easy intimacy that has defined their best work since the early 1990s, when Dog Trumpet first emerged from the creative shadows of Mental As Anything.
On Waltz Of The Wind, O’Doherty’s vocal feels half-dreamed, caught between memory and reverie. There’s a touch of country in the guitar phrasing, a hint of melancholy in the melody – all familiar ground for Dog Trumpet, who have spent decades tracing the emotional landscapes of ordinary life with poetic restraint.
“Some songs just sound like they’ve always existed,” Reg Mombassa said. “Waltz Of The Wind has that timeless quality. It fits perfectly into what we do – songs about memory, time and the oddness of being human.”
The track stands at the emotional centre of Live Forever, Dog Trumpet’s ninth studio album. Recorded with Bernie Hayes on bass and vocals and Declan O’Doherty on drums and vocals, the record drifts easily between Peter’s “observational” storytelling and Reg’s more “reflective” lyrical explorations.
The O’Doherty brothers’ artistic partnership extends far beyond music. Reg became a household name as Mambo’s house artist, his satirical designs defining an entire era of Australian pop culture, while Peter’s paintings have exhibited across Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the US. Together they have spent a lifetime weaving their visual and musical sensibilities into one creative language – surreal yet deeply human.
That visual identity also flows through Live Forever. The album cover, like much of their past work, features Reg’s distinctive artwork, grounding the record in Dog Trumpet’s signature fusion of music and art.
Beyond Waltz Of The Wind, Live Forever includes a suite of songs that reflect both the humour and gravity that have long defined Dog Trumpet. Reg’s title track, Live Forever, looks at humanity’s contradictions. “Sometimes I’m afraid of everything in the world, and sometimes I’m ashamed to be human,” he sings while High On The Rocks explores fear, memory and vertigo through Peter’s dreamlike lens.
Other highlights include Marianne, Peter’s ode to Marianne Faithfull (first written during his Mental As Anything years), and Ding-Dong Butterfly, Reg’s deceptively childlike reflection on life’s fragile beauty in the face of human destruction.
Yet Waltz Of The Wind stands apart as the album’s emotional core, a meditation on love and loss rendered with quiet simplicity. It’s the kind of song Dog Trumpet do best: one that says everything by saying very little.
Dog Trumpet’s music has always resisted fashion. From their early albums Two Heads One Brain and Suitcase through to Shadowland and now Live Forever, they’ve cultivated a sound that feels distinctly Australian but universally resonant – intimate, eccentric, thoughtful and dryly funny.
“We don’t try to chase trends,” O’Doherty said. “We just make music that feels honest to us.”
Watch the Noise11 track by track for Live Forever with Pete and Reg:
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