New York – Manchester quintet PINS played a late show at Rough Trade as part of label Bella Union’s Northside festival showcase on June 13th. The show marked the first date of the band’s current North American tour in support of sophomore full-length Wild Nights, which saw its official release June 8th after being recorded stateside at Joshua Tree in California. The product of Faith Holgate, Lois McDonald, Anna Donigan, Sophie Galpin and Kyoko Swan, Wild Nights is the already praised follow-up to 2013’s Girls Like Us, and PINS’ Rough Trade gig featured a mix of tracks from both albums that exemplified the still young band’s growth and development into a confident and original group that is here to stay.
Having in recent past secured enviable slots supporting bands such as Drenge and Sleater-Kinney as well as an extensive touring schedule that has seen the quintet play pivotal festivals such as SXSW and Great Escape, PINS confirmed at their Brooklyn show that these experiences have allowed the band to garner an intuitive poise and self-confidence in their live performance. Especially considering the fivesome hadn’t even all known each other three years ago (only forming when Holgate and Donigan envisioned making music as members of an all-girl band and consequently sought out McDonald, Galpin and the later addition of Swan), the obvious and natural chemistry of the group was undeniable and impressive.
With their own label (Haus of Pins) also under their belt, the band demonstrated this DIY punk ethos, in addition to conveying a visibly edgy glamour to their songs that very appropriately construed album title Wild Nights. Self-describing the genre of their newest release as “dark pop”, PINS utilized this aesthetic with a visual performance that included glittery makeup, colourful hair and a knack for an inimitable coolness. Holgate channeled the self-assurance of a lead singer alongside a hint of irresistible vulnerability, and the band as a whole projected a convincing and genuine image as the kind of girls you’d see from afar and perhaps aspire to be, as well as the kind that wouldn’t hesitate to take you in as one of their own.
PINS returned for an encore to play a cover song by The Misfits, a fitting tribute to the punk rock undertones of the band, but it was with their original songs that the band shone most. With an affinity for catchy choruses (“You look so good when you’re sad / You look so good when you’re bad” taken from newest single “Molly”) that combine both melancholic and straightforward statements with totally earnest fun, PINS also don’t take themselves too seriously, and it’s easy to see the influence of the relaxed California atmosphere where the band recorded.
Performing on a stage covered in balloons to celebrate the showcase, further tokens of celebration were in supply as near the end of the set shots brought to the edge of the stage were hurriedly downed before the performance continued. Well-received and engaging, PINS’ set most assuredly expanded the band’s fanbase to the Northside festival-goers in attendance, and carved out a promising summer launch to what has already been an accomplished year for the group.
Catch PINS as they go on an extensive North American tour through the beginning of July, before they return to their native UK to play several headlining dates this upcoming September.
Ruby Hoffman
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