Baltimore punks Pinkshift have released another single from their anticipated debut album Love Me Forever, out October 21 via Hopeless Records (pre-order). "in a breath" is a quiet and vulnerable ballad featuring vocalist Ashrita Kumar on solo piano. They write:
"in a breath" is from my heart. It's a song I've held on to for years. It’s a dive into my core, my greatest hopes, desires, loneliness, traumas, and fears. It's a song about feeling dissociated from my body and fighting to stay alive despite it. It explores the existence of an impossible reality, contemplates the existence of a god, and contemplates our capacity to love and be loved. It's about guilt, shame, redemption, and acceptance.
The single is a marked departure from the punk anthems previously released from Love Me Forever, and comes with a music video directed by hardcore punk filmographer hate5six (aka Sunny Singh). In the video, Ashrita performs "in a breath" live at Retro City Studios in Philadelphia. Sunny comments:
Capturing the authenticity of a live performance is what I've always been drawn to. It's the space I'm most interested in exploring and refining. It's also the reason why I've turned down every offer to do a choreographed and scripted music video. With ‘in a breath,’ I set out to create something that would allow me to render their live performance into something cinematically organic. Ashrita's talent as a vocalist and pianist radiates outward in this song, so I wanted to produce a visually minimalist piece that kept them at the center and instead drew its dynamics from manipulated camera motion. What emerged is an uncut, orbiting shot around them and the piano, the parallax creating a gravitational force between the viewer and Ashrita’s burning sincerity for 287 seconds.
Watch the video below.
Pinkshift are heading out on a headlining US tour next month, stopping in Brooklyn on November 17 at Elsewhere Zone One with Jigsaw Youth and Yasmin Nur. Tickets are still available. All dates below.
PINKSHIFT TOUR DATES 2022 10/20 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar 10/21 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd 10/22 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Roboto Project 10/23 - Cleveland, OH - Mahall's 10/25 - Detroit, MI - El Club 10/26 - Chicago, IL - Cobra Lounge 10/27 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry 10/29 - Denver, CO - Lost Lake 10/ 30 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court 11/01 - Seattle, WA - Barboza 11/02 - Portland, OR - Mission Theater 11/04 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill 11/05 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo 11/06 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar 11/08 - Dallas, TX - Ruins 11/09 - Austin, TX - Empire Control Room 11/11 - Orlando, FL - Will's Pub 11/13 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade 11/14 - Nashville, TN - Drkmttr Collective 11/15 - Charlotte, NC - The Milestone Club 11/17 - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere (Zone One) 11/18 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall 11/19 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
