Today I’m so excited to bring everyone the lead single from the new album from Holy Pinto called “One Tattoo.” Holy Pinto’s long-anticipated new LP, called Wedding Season, is filled with songs grappling with the concepts of love, distance, doubt, and adulthood. The album, which releases on all streaming services on September 14th, features some key collaborations from Bartees Strange, who helped produce some of the tracks found on Wedding Season. If you’re enjoying the latest single, please consider supporting this artist here.
You describe “One Tattoo” as being about devotion colliding with the fear of permanence. Was there a specific moment or experience that inspired you to explore that tension, and how did it shape the song’s lyrics?
It’s inspired by the era of your life where you maybe try to rein in the “going out and partying all night” type energy. I love hanging out with people, and there’s an intrinsic drive when I’m having a good time with friends to stay out until bar close. But there’s an element of unsustainability and destruction in that, both for yourself and potentially those around you. Juggling that desire with a close relationship, and trying to building a sustainable, productive + creative life, feels like a battle to navigate as you become more “adult” and have to take on more responsibilities.
The song asks whether someone can trade their chaos for commitment. Do you see that question as something the narrator answers by the end of the song, or is the uncertainty itself the point?
I think the uncertainty is the point – yes! Though the narrator gets to the point where they swear they’ll do so – “I’ll quit the bars and swear I’ll grow up too” – the question remains as to whether they can. Whether it’s a real desire and something they want for themselves, or that they’re actually only doing it for the other person. Or just because they’re “afraid of losing” them.
Although “One Tattoo” deals with big ideas about love and lasting choices, it’s also presented as an energetic, uplifting track. How did you approach balancing those heavier themes with such an upbeat musical feel?
This is such a core part of my musical true north- that the music feels warm, inviting and joyous in sound, yet it being somewhat of a “costume” for darker lyrics and discussions. It’s a thing I learned from a lot of my favourite artists and albums – for example Dog Problems by the Format, or Everything in Transit by Jack’s Mannequin — or, one of my favourite artists, Jens Lekman, who often dresses up the darkness with beautiful, ornate string arrangements and euphoric, joyous percussion.