Pinkshift - ‘suraksha’ review
Pinkshift by LeighAnn Rodgers
In the lead-up to Pinkshift's new EP, we were told the Baltimore trio was 'leaping into a new era'. That the EP, suraksha, which dropped on 13 October, promised something meaningful and faithful to their character. And we have to say, we wholeheartedly agree.
The opening track 'lullaby' is somehow saying hello, goodbye, and a lot more than that. It drops in with an opening chord you'd expect from a pop-punk track and morphs into something exciting. Structure changes throughout with Ashrita Kumar's style changing with it. This ranges from spoken word to singing the main hook "What a beautiful place to die".
It's capped off with some incredible harsh vocals that make this a real "tour de force" of a track. It's both an intriguing and fearful thought of how this song would sound live as it pours out emotion. As this track fades out, special mention has to go to the mixing of this EP. It has identity, it has influence from the member’s heritage and it moves perfectly into the next song.
The inclusion of August's single 'home' on this EP is some sturdy evidence of how well this band meshes as a unit. This is an excellent showcase of guitarist Paul Vallejo and drummer Myron Houngbedji. In the lyrics of the track, "You'll never be alone again, I'll always stay" change to "I’ll never go home again, I’ll always stay". It's repetitive, catchy, and simple interwoven songwriting. Splice that with the concept of suraksha as an EP (meaning 'Protection'), this has layers of things to listen for.
Finally, we have 'to me', having this as the first single of the year for the band was a perfect choice. The band themselves describe it as their "very first love song" when it released back in April. Mercifully, it's the softest performance for Ashrita Kumar, but this as the EP's final track is both great and a gut punch. They refer to it as "an introduction to a journey we’ll be embarking on this year of grief, ancestry, and spiritual growth". 'to me' puts a bow on all three of those themes being in this EP. This is a quintessential track for a band on the Hopeless Records roster, it's soulful, with a grungy edge.
Pinkshift continues to be an exciting presence on the scene, and they've only been going for 4 years. I'm woeful to have missed Pinkshift's UK dates earlier this year after listening to this. As far as EP's go, it does everything it set out to do. Pinkshift promised "a meaningful new collection of songs", suraksha does that. Ashrita mentioned how an influence from their youth that "Indian classical music would round out the songs perfectly", suraksha does that.
To echo the start of this review, we were told Pinkshift was 'leaping into a new era', suraksha does that. suraksha is an excellent step in the journey for a band I can best describe as Nirvana and No Doubt shot out of a cannon with a level of consciousness we should all hope to have in 2023.
suraksha from Pinkshift is out now via Hopeless Records and available on all good streaming platforms. Catch Pinkshift touring the US through the rest of this year.