Singer-songwriter Charlie Burg has released his highly anticipated debut album, Infinitely Tall via FADER Label today. Alongside the album release, he has also shared the latest satirical indie-rock-tinged single and accompanying video “Dancing Through The Mental Breakdown.” Listen to the album and watch the video now below.
Charlie is about to hit the road across the EU, UK and North America from September through November in support of the release, with tickets on sale HERE.
Speaking to the chapter book structure of the album, Burg’s goal was to design a body of work that mirrored the stages of his own life and the places that have shaped him throughout his life thus far, Burg explains, “I formatted this album in a three-chapter layout, with each group of five songs representing a different space in my life. The first is representative of the dreamlike nostalgia of one’s hometown; the second embodies a college house and the free spirit and recklessness of young adulthood; the third is city life, an ejection from youth into adulthood, and the endlessness that stretches out before you in the smoky urban expanses.”
On the debut record, Charlie Burg says, “The album is a reflection on spaces – namely houses – and the ways that we are shaped by our physical surroundings. “Infinitely Tall” is a phrase from the final track of the album which was born out of a jam session with my friend Rebecca in my hometown years ago. As I reflected on the concept of the album that phrase accurately encapsulated the feeling I had when thinking about home. We might change. Home might change. But some things never die.”
The project’s latest single, “Dancing Through The Mental Breakdown” allows the singer-songwriter to playfully critique the toxicity of social media with lines like “Don’t argue with folks at the club / When all you do is recite what you read on the ‘gram, baby” and “I said shake your ass / TikTok goes crazy for that.” Burg calls it “a burst of sardonic cultural criticism” and explains the context of the track as sharp self-examination. “The wheels come off and the protagonist (me) sees all their most resented attributes of the world reflected back to them in the mirror. Many of the things I hate about the world could really be things I hate about myself.”
Throughout the track, Burg is honest with himself as he observes the world around him, and remains optimistic despite the harsh realities of the hyper-online (and fabricated) world in which musicians are now immersed. Burg continues, “I denounce the version of myself that shallowly poured over the girl in the bookstore. Existing in a world of putting on a front to others, badmouthing them behind their backs, judging them on unattainable standards…it reminds me of us – even through an identity crisis and a mental breakdown, we are dancing.”
Directed by Rachel Cabitt and Natalie Leonard, its accompanying video is a grainy exploration of New York City through a fisheye lens, complete with blurs and hues of red and blue that mirror what it might feel like to dance through a mental breakdown. With Burg leading the way through the city, often talking straight to the camera, he eliminates any barrier between himself and the viewer, marked by his signature intimacy that both his music and presence offer.
The video embodies the chaos that exists in life today that is compounded by social media, as the visual, shot on an iPhone, gets increasingly more distorted throughout. Burg explains, “It’s about the chaos both in the mind and in society, brought on largely by phones and social media, it was completely shot on an iPhone for the irony, and it gets progressively more distorted as the video goes on.”
Charlie Burg Fall Tour 2022
EU + UK Dates
Sept. 10 – Dublin, Ireland – Workman’s Club
Sept. 11 – Glasgow, UK – King Tuts
Sept. 13 – Manchester, UK – Deaf Institute
Sept. 15 – London, UK – Colours
Sept. 16 – Paris, France – 1999 Club
Sept. 17 – Brussels, Belgium – Botanique – Witloofbar
Sept. 18 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Bitterzoet
Sept. 20 – Cologne, Germany – Yuca
Sept. 21 – Berlin, Germany – Privatclub
Sept. 23 – Hamburg, Germany – Reepeerbahn Festival
North American Dates
Oct. 12 – Washington DC – Union Stage
Oct. 14 – Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry
Oct. 15 – Syracuse, NY – Westcott Theater
Oct. 18 – Nashville, TN – The Basement East
Oct. 19 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
Oct. 21 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada
Oct. 22 – Austin, TX – Empire Control Room & Garage
Oct. 25 – Phoenix, AZ – Rebel Garage
Oct. 26 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey
Oct. 28 – Oakland, CA – The New Parish
Nov. 1 – Portland, OR – Holocene
Nov. 2 – Seattle, WA – Barboza
Nov. 4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
Nov. 5 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
Nov. 8 – Lawrence, KS – Bottleneck
Nov. 10 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
Nov. 11 – Des Moines, IA – xBK Live
Nov. 12 – Chicago, IL – Chop Shop
Nov. 13 – Detroit, MI – El Club
Nov. 15 – Toronto, ON – Velvet Lounge
Nov. 17- New York, NY – Irving Plaza
Nov. 21 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club