About a week before the pandemic began to impact and influence our daily lives, we tipped you off to Hot Slick, the new album from Manchester indie trio PINS. A lot has changed since that day in early March, but the album’s rollout — and our excitement over it — has remained steadfast.
Hot Slick hits playlists today (May 29), and it straddles a fine line between gritty disco-punk and glossy alt-pop, a sonic cocktail that’s purely 2020 at the core — one eye towards proper retro synth cues and the other deadlocked onto a dystopian spin on futuristic pop. It’s the soundtrack to the noir disco of your favorite ’80s film depicting the world five years from now. Its scenes play out at the flirtatious bar, in barking loud conversations deep within the lounge booths, and across the sprawling strobe-fueled dance floor.
In advance of today’s full LP experience, we’ve digested the rumbling, mood-setting title track, the glitched out disco thump of “Bad Girls Forever”, and then as referenced in March, throbbing electronic-pop standout “Ponytail,” of which singer Faith Vern presents the following: “Have you ever had a bad day and instead of crawling into bed with a bucket of ice cream, you swipe your mouth with some lipstick, put your high heels on and go out to dance? That’s what ‘Ponytail’ is about.”
Head to the daydream disco of your cracked phone screen, and swan dive into Hot Slick below.