PINCH POINTS MELBOURNE ALBUM LAUNCH: Saturday, April 2 at The Corner, with supports MOD CON, Alien Nosejob, and Our Carlson. Tickets on sale now. Presented by Triple R.

“Am I Okay?” (out now in the streamiverse) is the next glimpse at rising Melbourne post-punk four-piece Pinch Points’ hotly-anticipated new album Process, out March 18 on Mistletone Records (Australia / New Zealand) and Exploding in Sound (USA). Album pre-orders are now open at www.pinchpoints.bandcamp.com

The timely new Pinch Points single, “Am I Okay?”, resonates with the current shaky mental health state of the nation. The warm-hearted video (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. 

“  
This band — if you’re into punk, you’re going to love them. They are so, so fun. It’s spiky, angular, awesome punk music” – ZAN ROWE, DOUBLE J

check out the life-affirming video for the first single, “Reasons to be Anxious”, directed by Jasper Fearnley & starring Brenton Aylward:

“The video is a high intensity ride, that gels perfectly with the tone of the song, following a crop-top wearing, pink haired Brenton Aylward dancing around Melbourne in an almost anxiety inducing mania to match the lyrics” – BEAT

“ ” one of the most relatable songs I’ve heard in the past two years” – FEE B SQUARED, TRIPLE R ON “REASONS TO BE ANXIOUS”

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 F*ck 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. 

The hotly-anticipated new Pinch Points album Process was recorded with Anna Laverty (Courtney Barnett, Nick Cave, The Peep Tempel) and is a momentous leap forward into full-force post-punk empowerment, with 10 songs engaging 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.

The album opens with “Reasons to be Anxious”, an all-too-relatable laundry list of the fight-or-flight triggers that frazzle our nervous systems;

“I get anxious when I get a text / I get anxious when I don’t get a text / I get anxious when my doorbell rings / I get anxious about f**king anything / I get anxious when I take time off / I get anxious that I’m not good enough / I get anxious going to therapy / to try and treat my anxiety”.

The B-side, “Boy”, dives deep into the cesspool of toxic masculinity and the repressed emotions that boys are socialised to deny, with disastrous outcomes for everyone. 

As the album title suggests, Process is a commentary on structural collapse; the systemic failures and baked-in inequalities that are ravaging ecosystems, the mental health system, the gig economy workforce and all aspects of our lives. The title Process also recognises the emotions processed and channelled in the songs, as a collective 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 are Acacia Coates, Adam Smith, Jordan Oakley and Isabella Orsini.

Nothing is normal — but PINCH POINTS are here.