Song of the Day: PINS - Too Little Too Late

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Too Little Too Late” by PINS from the 2015 album Wild Nights on Bella Union.

PINS - Too Little Too Late (MP3)

There's a clear pop influence that runs through the currents of Manchester's PINS, but the quartet's music takes that core and runs it through punk, garage, and noise filters to add some edge to their melodic tunes. Formed in 2011 by vocalist/guitarist Faith Holgate, guitarist Lois McDonald, bassist Anna Donigan, and drummer Lara Williams, the band trade in sounds that have historically come with a fair amount of serious-minded musical cred – gauzy '80s tones, copious amounts of reverb, reverent interpretations of '60s girl group –  but PINS' devil may care attitude towards those ideas makes the band more likely to use them in conjunction with shotgunning Budweisers (see: their press photo) than pedantically extolling the virtues of the "Be My Baby" beat. On their 2013 debut, Girls Like Us, the band emerged amidst a flurry of buzz in the UK with a gritty set of tunes, but after retreating to Rancho De La Luna with producer Dave Catching (Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys) for their second album, this year's Wild Nights showed a more sparkling, melodic side of the band. "Too Little Too Late" certainly taps into that shimmering punch, and it does so without letting up on the band's icy sneer. It's evident from the first line that Holgate is pissed, and as she drops lyrics, she lays on kiss offs one by one while her bandmates move in a heavy, reverberating crawl. If it was more subtle, "Too Little Too Late" could qualify for Shade Court, but seeing as the song is as forthcoming as they get, both thematically and musically, it ends up being of the best (only?) gloriously direct two-finger salutes with a girl group chorus in recent memory.

PINS will be LIVE on KEXP this Friday, June 19th, at 9:30AM. You can listen live and watch live streaming video of the session. They'll play that evening at the Showbox SoDo Lounge. Get tickets and more info about that 21+ show here, keep up with the band at their website and Facebook page, and watch the video for "Too Little Too Late":