With her latest slew of singles drawing well-deserved attention, the final countdown to Lindsey Radice AKA PYNKIE’s highly anticipated sophomore album #37 is on.

Having worked doggedly for the past two years to establish her place as a jagged indie-rock gem, PYNKIE is readying the release of her new album with “Vacation,” a track that embodies her whimsy and DIY spirit.

“Vacation” sees a slight veer away from the swirling synthy sound that often lies underneath PYNKIE’s music. Taking a more organic approach, the track actually sounds more like a The Beach Boys track in places, leaning on a twee, surfing rhythm.

Yet, as is to be expected of a PYNKIE track, there’s always more than initially meets the ears. With a clean, resounding electric guitar sprinkled over the acoustic anchor, momentum is built. Radice‘s husky, drawling voice orchestrates “Vacation” into its final thirty seconds, where the song really takes off.

It’s in those final seconds that it’s made apparent how much groundwork has been laid initially to allow “Vacation” to bloom. The final lyrics “give you the green light” fade out with such a beautiful everlasting feeling, like if “Vacation” will go on endlessly. Not a coincidence when you know the meaning of the track.

“‘Vacation’ is about mentally taking a permanent vacation from a former relationship and way of thinking,” explained Radice. “I have held onto relationships and tried to resuscitate them long after they’ve obviously died. This is not only unhealthy but also a waste of time and energy. However, I’m sure most people can say they’ve done this either with a romantic relationship or in some other aspect of their life.”

The accompanying video to “Vacation” is a charming compilation of home videos, all lovingly converted from VHS’s and organised into a sentimental time capsule. The video plays as an amusing and heartwarming homage to growing up and presents an interesting way to explore the aforementioned feelings of taking a “permanent vacation” from unhealthy ways of thinking.

Following the release of lead single “Personality“, Lindsey Radice aka PYNKIE has dropped the second track from her forthcoming album #37. This is perhaps the closest we’ll get to a PYNKIE power ballad. With her usual upbeat, facetious notions gone, “Love Theme” takes a more sombre approach.

Not all aspects of PYNKIE’s music are gone, however. “Love Theme” retains the electronic warps, interferences and warbles, the strange enigmatic tones that permeate most of her music. The guitars are darker in sound, yet they still jingle along much like the bulk of her discography.

Adding to this newfound downbeat vibe is the gentle husk of Radice’s voice, which gifts the track a melancholy edge and accentuates the seductive nature of the track.

Speaking to the meaning of the track, PYNKIE commented “‘Love Theme’ is about longing for someone to feel the same romantic feelings for you as you feel for them. “Someday, you’ll give me the time and I’ll blow your mind,” states the first lyric. I sing the song with a sultry voice almost as if to seduce the lover I’m longing for. It is meant to convey the feeling of a daydream.”

Accompanying “Love Theme” is a stop motion video directed by Daniel Sterlin-Altman, showing the life and times of a heartbroken rubber duck and a rock. It’s both whimsical and oddly heartbreaking, moving in a way that’s hard to describe, particularly as, well, it’s a rubber duck. It’s typical of Lindsey Radice’s work, this mixture of serious and frivolous, making light of the darkness with real sincerity and airiness. Watch and pre-order the album below.

Singer-songwriter-nurse Lindsey Radice, better known as PYNKIE, is no stranger to the unusual. Saving lives by day and tooling around with bandmates John Messina and Josh Bartsch at night, the versatile artist has been working on her sophomore album as PYNKIE for a long time.

Finding time whenever her nurse scheduling would allow, the road to completion has been bumpy. “I took some time away because I felt like I couldn’t get it sounding the way I wanted,” says Radice. “And then the pandemic happened, which made being a nurse pretty hard for a bit. But we found a way to make the record work, and somehow everything got done in the last couple months.”

“Personality” is the first glimpse into the world of this effort. A self-proclaimed ode to divorce (more specifically Radice’s parents divorce), the track is as sharp and witty as you’d expect from PYNKIE. It possesses this off-kilter touch that we’ve seen her adopt since her self-released 2018 debut album neoteny.

The track references specific interactions between PYNKIE’s parents as they fight over possessions in the messy divorce. Lines such as “Furniture, Furniture/Over my dead body” are sung with a delightfully naïve charm, effectively capturing the sometimes obliviousness or misunderstanding that children have when it comes to events of such grandeur.

This speaks to PYNKIE’s style. Having started by making up silly ditties to herself in the form of odes to her shower curtain, her childlike sense of fun hasn’t been lost, even though the subject matter has changed into one of more gravity.

With its buoyant bassline, jangly guitars, stoic percussion and perfectly imperfect slacker vocals, “Personality” is musically a raw joy to behold. It’s flawless in its mixture of the known and the unknown, expected and unexpected. Skilfully wrong-footing the listener by setting up expectations of direction and then changing at the last minute is something that PYNKIE excels at. Lo-fi ethics and embedded nostalgia have become a staple of her music.

This 90s nostalgia also takes the main role in the accompanying Kelli McGuire-directed visuals. We see Radice with her hair in bunches, wearing chokers, double denim that’s been scrawled on in felt tip pen and jelly sandals. The lighting is soft yet colourful with a light fuzz that gives it a retro warmth to it, casting our minds back to childhood. With vibrant graphics breaking up the video, topped off with the karaoke-style lyrics at the bottom of the video, the effect is one of wistful fondness.

With its combination of unadulterated playfulness, darker tones and gleefully childish sensibilities, “Personality” speaks to a larger theme that will carry through the upcoming album #37. The record was named as a reference to Lindsey Radice’s mother’s first husband, who sadly died early in the marriage. #37 was the number on his high school football jersey and it became a poignant symbol for Radice and her family.

“My mom and sisters feel that 37 is very symbolic of him,” she says. “They see it everywhere and usually at very strangely coincidental moments. They feel like it’s him looking down and protecting them. Then I started seeing it all the time too, and it just turned into this magical/meaningful number in my mind, especially during the time I was making this album.”

It’s this meaningful undertone and more sombre subjects that makes PYNKIE’s music really soar. There cannot be darkness without light and PYNKIE sublimates this alchemy with originality and authenticity. Watch and pre-order the album below.