Publicity Campaign: Nature in the City - ‘Metcalfe’ EP
Coburg-based indie-folk artist Nature in the City releases his new EP ‘Metcalfe’. A five-track collection written from inside the quiet, everyday corners of love and life, it sits with distance, burnout, tenderness, and the small hopes that keep a relationship moving forward.
Built around acoustic guitar and direct lyricism, Nature in the City’s songs feel like conversation rather than performance. Warm rhythm, light drums, and atmospheric electric guitar give the EP a gentle sway, grounded and unforced. The writing is personal without being insular, capturing the kind of moments most people live through but rarely name.
The lead track ‘Summer is Coming’ is the EP’s centre, a sparse, tender indie-folk song that holds a relationship from both sides. It moves between self-reflection and empathy, tracing two people caught in exhaustion and circular thinking, still choosing to turn toward each other. Soft bass and chiming acoustic guitar carry the refrain ‘summer is coming soon’ like a quiet mantra, with light drums entering halfway through as the song opens up.
With this body of work, Nature in the City hopes its music plants a quiet little question for listeners: “What if I let myself feel this? What if I told someone?” Even if it’s only for the length of a song.
“Above all, I want it to feel warm and safe. Like someone is sitting across from you, saying “It’s okay. I see you.” And maybe, just maybe, encouraging them to do the same with the people in their own life.”
Supported by Creative Victoria, ‘Metcalfe’ was written in country Victoria, in the artist’s wife’s childhood home, an old mud brick cottage in Metcalfe. That stillness helped shape the songs. Originally from Germany, Nature in the City took the recording process global. The early demos were built at home in Australia, and Nature in the City recorded most of the vocals and guitar at Echidna Studios in Christmas Hills before sending it outward. Harmonies, drums and bass were recorded in Berlin and guitars were tracked in New York City, trumpet was recorded in Italy. The EP was completed with mixing in New York and mastering in Canada.
“The writing was deeply rooted in one peaceful Australian place, while the recording became this unexpected global journey. That contrast feels very much part of the EP.”
Nature in the City is an artist shaped by movement, between countries, between scenes, and between seasons of life. Now based in Melbourne after years in Germany, he is building slowly and intentionally, drawn to the city’s live music culture.
‘Metcalfe’ is his most grounded release yet, a small, honest portrait of a life in transition.
EP TRACK SYNOPSIS
‘Solo’
An opener that holds longing and humour in the same hand. Written in the stretch of time when his partner travelled overseas to be with her unwell father, it captures the strange rhythm of waking up alone, living between phone calls, and trying to keep things light even when the ache is real.
‘Cry With Me’
A slow-building song about the distance that can grow between parents and their children. It leans into softness rather than toughness, asking what it would look like to drop the armour and meet each other honestly, even if it is messy.
‘Summer is Coming’
The emotional heart of the EP. A dual-perspective portrait of two people moving through burnout and self-doubt, still holding space for one another. Sparse, atmospheric, and anchored by a repeated line that feels like a shared prayer for better days.
‘Your Shoulders’
A love song shaped by patience. Written across years of long-distance between Metcalfe and Berlin, it carries the calm certainty of knowing someone is worth the wait, with no panic, just warmth and trust.
‘Country State of Mind’
A closer that exhales. It reaches for a quieter headspace where life slows down and the noise drops away, ending the EP on a grounded note, relaxed, hopeful, and present.
