‘Coffee’ is a song co-written with friend and fellow New Zealand songwriter, Mitch James. It was written in an Airbnb in Berlin during a visit from James, and later produced by Oliver in his Berlin studio. An undeniable radio song, full of catchy hooks and colourful production.
“The love of coffee is the perfect metaphor for the love for the right person; no matter how many mornings you drink coffee, you never stop wanting it. It is one of the few things you can do every day, and still look forward to, just like good love. Mitch and I had a great writing connection, because he is a master of pop hooks, and I seem to have a strength in refining ideas, so together we were quite a force and we enjoyed every minute of the process. I’m very happy to have a touch of Mitch on this album.”
Written by Thomas Oliver and Mitch James. Recorded, produced and mixed by Thomas Oliver.
Thomas Oliver: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keys
Hal Strewe: bass
Ariel Bamborough: backing vocals
The video was shot in Tokyo because we wanted a sparkly urban environment to go with the energy of the song, and also because of my previous connection with the city via my song, The Time In Tokyo.
The shoot coincided with my trip to Japan with Mitch (my manager) and another friend, Nate (my designer), during the Rugby World Cup, in which the city was even more vibrant and intense than usual. The crew also flew over from New Zealand, and we had a local advisor who sorted the locations for shooting. We shot the video in one day, and chased the sun across the city to shoot the sunset scenes in time.
The ‘match-cutting’ concept, conceived by Calvin Sang, was to illustrate the changing of days/months/years whilst the love remains, and Elina danced while I played, as if in celebration of our love. Although she is not my lover in real life, Elina did an amazing job of representing her for a day! We all had a lot of fun on the shoot, and everything went our way.
I should also mention that the video was funded by New Zealand On Air, via a New Music Grant.
Director: Calvin Sang
Producer: Briar Collard
Choreography and Dance: Elina Ayako
Production Assistant: Keito Yu
Edit: Calvin Sang, Robert Farrell
