Today I’m so excited to bring everyone the latest single and video from art-rock band, Pastel Blank, for “Sweet Nic.” On this quirky new single that is reminiscent of bands like Foxy Shazam, Pastel Blank lean into their unique sound. Led by singer and songwriter Angus Watt, the indie rock outfit channels the ironic and quirky energy of the 2012’s with clever and sardonic lyricism, while drawing from the genre-bending psychedelia of ’80s new wave. If you’re enjoying the new video, please consider pre-ordering the band’s new LP, Unmade In Minutes, here.
“Sweet Nic” was influenced by Brian Eno’s Here Come the Warm Jets, especially in the way it balances the silly and sinister, and features quirky, oddball characters. Can you share more about how this influence shaped the track and your own approach to writing it?
I think that “Here Come the Warm Jets” showed me you can have a lot of tension in a song (e.g. silly vs sinister, harsh vs beautiful), and that those tensions can be to the strength of the song. It feels like Brian Eno was really letting all the imaginary characters in his subconscious run wild on that record, and I think for Sweet Nic (the bridge in particular), I took that to heart.
Which contemporary artists inspire Pastel Blank, and how would you describe your sound to someone hearing it for the first time?
Some current artists I dearly love and am inspired by: Twisted Teens, Cootie Catcher, Nourished By Time, Alduous Harding, Wednesday, and Deerhoof. I’m hesitant to list a bunch of sub-genres when I’m talking to people about music, but I would probably describe Pastel Blank’s sound as poky funky tongue-in-cheek indie rock.
The music video for “Sweet Nic” was filmed on a summer day in Vancouver, with you wearing life-size cigarette costumes in public. What was that experience like, and did anything unexpected happen during filming?
The experience was quite fun. The very first shot we did was at a busy bus stop, and lots of people were taking pictures of us. There’s something very liberating about being dressed so ridiculously and no-one knowing who you are. When passerbys asked what we were filming, we told them that it was for an anti-smoking PSA. Which is not entirely untrue. In terms of unexpected moments, the prop-gun we used looked quite real, so we had to be a bit clandestine when we were filming the scenes involving it.