One of the most rhythmic and hypnotic tracks on Flying Microtonal Banana is “Open Water.” Starting with intense double drumming from Cavs and Eric, it features wah wah electric guitars and fast repeating riffs which keeps the track constantly moving. The lyrics (sung by Stu) follow a sailor drowning alone in the middle of the sea. They begin to give in to the water as they realize there’s no help on the way, and are taken into the depths by a Kraken who grabs them by the leg. In the end they’re destined for a burial under the waves.
While the story is reminiscent of sailors’ tales from the 1700s, its lyrics were inspired by the science fiction novel The Kraken Wakes. It tells the story of an alien invasion which is downplayed due to the Cold War. The story ends with the aliens melting the sea ice, raising the water levels of Earth and killing large swaths of the population. While alien life isn’t explicitly mentioned in the lyrics, the rising sea levels are alluded to in lines like “where’s the shore gone?” It’s not the first time that Stu wrote lyrics based on the work of John Wyndham as the Paper Mâché Dream Balloon song “Cold Cadaver” was based on a line in The Day of the Triffids.
Recording sessions for the song at Flightless HQ are featured prominently in the documentary Peeling the Flying Microtonal Banana. The song was performed by Cavs (drums/bongos), Cook (guitar), Eric (drums), Joey (guitar), Lucas (bass) and Stu (guitar/synthesizer/vocals/percussion/zurna). It was released on February 24th, 2017.
The earliest known performance of “Open Water” was on 2017-03-19 at The Night Cat in Melbourne. Throughout the spring of 2017, the song regularly opened up the band’s shows. It was played a handful of times in June (with “Rattlesnake” now taking its place) and then disappeared for the rest of the year. The band brought it back on 2018-02-18 and played it throughout spring before returning for a few dates in June. Up to this point the song appeared close to the studio version, though this would change in 2019. That year “Open Water” was played significantly less (only six performances) but was given a drum solo by Cavs and Eric. One of these drum solos from 2019-10-08 was included in the film Chunky Shrapnel as the track “Parking.” After one appearance in 2020 on 2020-02-08 (the final performance of the track with Eric), it returned on 2021-02-23 for the band’s fully microtonal shows. While these removed the drum solo, the song was given a new feel with Cavs doing double bass drumming throughout, making for a heavier rendition of the track. This version was ditched in 2022 as the band went to a jam-centric take on the studio version, though this rendition does sometimes contain a time change back to the heavier drumming. Outside of the band’s gigs, Cavs played the song briefly during his drum seminar at Drumtek in Northcote.