Several years ago, Nic Cogels packed up his life and moved from Brussels, Belgium to Sydney, Australia in search of a new beginning. Cogels met brothers Ed and Lloyd Prescott and Nick Langley and formed a band named after its founding member, Cogel. They eventually added another member to become a quintet and found a reasonable level of success as they opened for the likes of Goyte and others; however, after some time, the members of the band went through a decided change of sonic and aesthetic direction, as well as a lineup change.

With a spirit of dramatic change, the members of the band had been growing tired of having a name that most people had difficulty pronouncing, so they decided that a name change was necessary – and they decided on calling themselves Why We Run.

“Comfortable Lie” is the first Why We Run Single and according to the press release, the song comes from a deeply personal experience – of leaving everything you’ve known behind and casting yourself adrift to start over. Produced by Wayne Connolly, who has worked with The Paper Kites, Cloud Control and Josh Pyke, the song evokes a complex array of despair and frustration, along with the inherent sense of renewal and hope in a new start – all within the turn of a phrase. Interestingly, the song manages to be both melancholy and breezy as it pairs twisting and turning keyboard chords, and atmospheric guitar chords played through gentle washes of reverb with Cogels’ lilting falsetto. In some way, the song bears an vague resemblance to Caveman for its unique quality of pairing sublime beauty with a moody, brooding air – but in the case of Why We Run with a pop sensibility.

The official video directed by Tim Gibbs has the band performing the song and brooding in front of gorgeous and eerie images projected by a mobile camera obscure.