By walking the fine line between being both politically charged and reflective, San Francisco’s The New Up are no stranger to writing songs full of meaning. Blending blissful electronic-pop and jagged alt-rock, the band led by guitarist/vocalists ES Pitcher and Noah Reid bring out a sound that’s accessible and poignant.
Their February album, Tiny Mirrors, exhibits a raw approach to songwriting, capturing a rhythmic pocket that anchored by Pitcher’s poetic vocals and Reid’s stellar instrumentation. Those sounds will be on live display this Friday (May 19) as The New Up play P.A.’s Lounge in Somerville for the latest stop on their nationwide album release tour.
“Creating Tiny Mirrors was both a catharsis and the birthing of a creative baby all at once,” Pitcher reveals to Vanyaland via email. “The incredible range of emotions one can experience from day to day in this oversaturated, overstimulated, and as a result often shallow world were all experienced by us during the writing, recording, mixing, and producing of Tiny Mirrors. From very personal deaths that happened in the process to the birth of our daughter, our journey with the making of this album combined the highest joy to opening up to the deepest and darkest places where things we don’t want to discover about ourselves lie.”
Pitcher says the new record is a pure extension of the band itself, and that’s most evident on standout tracks like “Black Swan” and “Almost Human.”
“The ups and downs and struggles and triumphs of the group all fueled the creative direction, and ultimately, the emotional content of the lyrics and music of the album,” she adds. “The process was more than a labor of love, it was intertwined with life itself in a way that makes Tiny Mirrors almost more like another appendage of the band members than just another offering from struggling artists with something crucial to say to the world, although either would be valid characterizations.”
Tiny Mirrors is currently streaming via Spotify. Give it a listen below.