Wild Pink

Wild Pink

Latest Release

About Wild Pink

Wild Pink's tendency toward warm, reflective indie rock tunes follows the soft-spoken lead of singer and songwriter John Ross. The group delivered their eponymous full-length debut in 2017. Their more expansive third album, 2021's A Billion Little Lights, enlisted help from session musicians and Grammy-winning engineer David Greenbaum. Ross' recovery from cancer surgery informed the band's textured and thoughtful fourth LP, 2022's ILYSM. In a change of course, Wild Pink's most assertive and dissonant album yet, 2024's Dulling the Horns, embraced unpolished live performance and effects pedals without leaving contemplative territory. Ross formed Wild Pink in New York with bassist T.C. Brownell and drummer Dan Keegan. After sharing a two-track release, they made their label debut with the EP Good Life on Texas Is Funny Records in June 2015. That led to a record deal with Tiny Engines, which issued the EP 4 Songs in 2016. The band's debut album, Wild Pink, arrived on Tiny Engines in early 2017. The group co-produced their next album with Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh). The resulting Yolk in the Fur came out in mid-2018. March 2019's 5 Songs proved to be their final release with Tiny Engines. The trio's more ambitious third album, A Billion Little Lights, was produced, mixed, and co-engineered by David Greenbaum (Beck, Jenny Lewis) and involved the participation of various friends and session musicians. Arriving in early 2021, it marked Wild Pink's debut for Royal Mountain Records. It was followed by another EP, 6 Cover Songs, which included the band's versions of songs by Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, and others. Six months into working on their fourth full-length, singer Ross was diagnosed with cancer. He eventually underwent surgery to remove some of his lymph nodes, and the band was able to complete the album. Released in October 2022, ILYSM found Ross ruminating on his battle with cancer and taking a more textured and stripped-down approach. Co-produced with longtime associate Pizzoferrato, the album also featured guest appearances by J Mascis, Yasmin Williams, Samantha Crain, and others. Included on the record was the single "Hold My Hand" with Julien Baker. Ross and band wanted to go in a different direction for their next album. In mid-2023, they rejoined Pizzoferrato with a goal to come closer to the rawer sound of their shows. To that end, they recorded Dulling the Horns live in the same room while embracing brisker tempos and guitar distortion; although it still incorporated softer timbres like the occasional synths, violin, and pedal steel, studio polishing was verboten. (The title Dulling the Horns was intended as a metaphor for the wear and tear of the music-industry treadmill rather than a reference to sound.) Issued in October 2024, it was their debut for the Fire Talk label. ~ Marcy Donelson

ORIGIN
New York, NY, United States
FORMED
2015
GENRE
Alternative
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