Mistletone

Mistletone is proud as punch to release Process, the brilliant second album by Pinch Points, out now via Mistletone (AU / NZ) and Exploding in Sound (USA). Listen and buy vinyl here.

• “Riveting post-punk that seethes with righteous anger” – NME AUSTRALIA ★★★★
• “Rip-roaring punk with an important message” – TONE DEAF: VIDEO OF THE WEEK
• GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA: AUSTRALIA’S BEST NEW MUSIC
• 2SER + 4ZZZ Feature Album • RTR Sound Selection • PBS “top tracks we’re loving”
• NME interview and review
• Tone Deaf interview
•Post Trash interview

PINCH POINTS TOUR DATES:

• MELBOURNE: Saturday, April 2 @ The Corner: album launch with MOD CON, Alien Nosejob, Our Carlson. Presented by Triple R. Tickets on sale now.
• BALLARAT: Friday, April 15 @ The Eastern with Expo + Tor.
• BEECHWORTH: Friday April 29 @ Tanswells with Delivery.
• CASTLEMAINE: Saturday April 30 @ The Bridge Hotel with Delivery + Heir Traffic.
• NATIONAL: on tour with IDLES, Oct 31 – Nov 8, dates here.

Process melds catchy cultural critique with a hard-hitting personal expression of empathy and shared grief. A true collaboration, finding consensus from the experiences of four individual humans, Pinch Points embody music-making as an act of friendship and community, upholding the band’s shared belief in the music scene as a real-life platform for connection, strength and solidarity.

Pinch Points burst forth from the Melbourne underground with their 2019 debut Moving Parts, and were hailed by Double J as “the sharpest new band in the country” and Music Victoria’s Best Breakthrough Act of 2020. The band toured with Tropical Fuck Storm, supported Amyl and the Sniffers, Kikagaku Moyo, Viagra Boys, RVG and Cash Savage and the Last Drinks, and opened 2020’s Golden Plains to a packed amphitheatre. “Reasons to be Anxious”, the first single from Process, was launched to a packed Max Watt’s for Melbourne Music Week.

The band recorded Process with Anna Laverty (Courtney Barnett, Nick Cave, The Peep Tempel), taking a momentous leap forward into full-force post-punk empowerment. The album’s 10 songs engage with the fractures in so-called ‘Australia’ — from catastrophic bushfires, gendered violence, mental health struggles to First Nations incarceration and deaths in custody — with clear-eyed directness, along with an uncommon nuance and empathy.

PINCH POINTS are Acacia Coates, Adam Smith, Jordan Oakley and Isabella Orsini.

Resonating with the shaky mental health state of the nation, the warm-hearted video for “Am I Okay?”  (directed by Michael Ridley – Rolling Blackouts, Alex Lahey, Violent Soho, etc), depicts the four band members plus four doppelgängers.

Embodying mental health self-care, the musicians give some TLC to help their alter egos through a rough patch. “It’s good to ask yourself  ‘Am I Okay?’”, each band member counsels their downhearted double. “Look after yourself, for a change!”

TONE DEAF ~ VIDEO OF THE WEEK:
“The vocals are raw and realistic, delivered precariously and shakily, the way four young people in the midst of an undefined and uncertain global time should sound. “Look after yourself for a change! / I know the world is fucking crap / But you didn’t cause that / So give yourself a hug,” is the sage advice on offer. ‘AM I OKAY?’ focuses on the same themes as previous single, the self-explanatory ‘Reasons To Be Anxious’,drawing attention to the need for care and comfort in these difficult times. It feels timely, with no hint of irony or insouciance; the point at the heart of the song is clearly of too much importance” 

The band describes “Am I Okay?” as a continuation of previous single “Reasons To Be Anxious”, building on the theme of the endemic anxiety and uncertainty of our times, with a call to be kind to yourself and remember you’re loved and worthy. 

“We stepped a little out of our normal songwriting comfort zone with this track”,  the band said in a statement. “We wanted to be very direct and sincere, without any irony or character-driven lyrics.

“Musically, we leaned into a softer jangle feel too. We really enjoyed exploring a new side of the Pinch Points sound. It was one of the only tracks on the album where we were still finalising the lyrics in the studio, on the day we recorded it. It came together really naturally though, and ended up being one of our collective faves”, the band agreed.