Pinkshift’s second album is a significant level-up that’s a complex cocktail of rage, vulnerability and determination.
Whether Pinkshift intended it or not, Earthkeeper feels like a spiritual record. It examines the idea of self and the things we can and cannot control, while looking at the wider consequences of a volatile existence on the whole planet and every living thing on it.
The trio’s second album, it’s a darker yet more switched-on step-up from 2022 debut Love Me Forever. Introducing more experimental structures and sounds they’ve never delved into before, it skips across doomy, heavy shoegaze, to punk and post-hardcore territories.
Though it tackles what many would deem as political topics, it doesn’t really feel like a political album. Opener Love It Here offers perhaps the most traditional sense of this, with a lively punk structure and speedy tempo, but elsewhere, Earthkeeper turns to peace and softness, and how we can treasure those things with the resources available to us.
Don’t Fight is probably the most exciting listen in this regard, as guitarist Paul Vallejo takes on melodic vocals while vocalist Ashrita Kumar purely tackles screams. It's also reminiscent of Superheaven or even Birds In Row, with desperation and pain oozing through every pore.
While Blood examines how violence feels impossible to ignore, it’s just as much about remaining soft among it, while closer Something More dares to dream for things that are bigger and better, as Ashrita utilises optimism as a radical act of defiance.
Earthkeeper documents what it means to search for serenity, love and safety in a world that’s continually heading the other way. It’s about dealing with oppression and ignorance the best we can, all while daring to reach for better days. It questions what our purpose is if not to respect what we have, and respect each other, all while going in a heavier direction instrumentally that Pinkshift execute brilliantly.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Mannequin Pussy, Destroy Boys, Turnstile
Earthkeeper is released on August 29 via Hopeless
