Introducing Seattle Punk Trio So Pitted

Allow us to introduce Seattle punk trio So Pitted, who will release their debut album neo via Sub Pop this February 19th 2016. First cut ‘rot in hell’s demonic downpour of angular guitar stabbing and dog-eared melodies is the perfect introduction to their caustic sonic world. As much an experiment in social partnerships as they are a noise outfit, together So Pitted are a perfect balance for one another’s quirks, strengths, and shortcomings. Liam Downey, a new wave fanatic who sticks pipe cleaners in his brain to speak to extra-terrestrials, Nathan Rodriguez, a self-taught quick study who learned music theory on Wikipedia, and Jeannine Koewler, a long-time ballet dancer who’s in equal parts devoted to the aesthetes, and the Cocteau Twins’ back catalogue.

Roles and positions have never been important to So Pitted; Rodriguez and Downey often switch instruments and both sing, while Koewler plays her guitar through a bass amp. “It’s everyone’s band,” says Rodriguez, “and we have the same role of support and voice for each other.” Identity, freedom, location… yeah, yeah, yeah, but what the hell do they sound like? “One of my friends says we’re ‘louder than Nirvana,’” says Downey. “And we are subjected to grunge by default but it’s not that bad. Mudhoney is cool but Tad is rad. I see us as another spinoff of new wave music. I love Devo. I don’t think any of us are into one style, we all have our conventions, we’re all really snobby artists but at the same time we’re normal people who listen to Backstreet Boys because it’s what we heard growing up. We just want to be genuine and admit what we like and don’t like. The band is the people, and we’re always changing so much.”

In other words, their zeal makes it almost impossible to pin them down. Enter neo, So Pitted’s debut album some years in the making. These eleven tracks are lean and snarling rebukes. Torch songs not in the traditional, unrequited-love sense, but songs that will torch your fucking house down. Screams and howls overtake chants and muttering, equal parts dejection, rejection, and convection, the hot, muggy air circling continuously. It’s fuzzy, angular, throbbing, and pounding, and still, ingrained in the songs by their makers, breathes that catchy quality present in so much of the music they love. (Read more at Sub Pop). So Pitted’s neo is available to pre-order from Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and Google Play. The album was co-produced and mixed by So Pitted and Dylan Wall, recorded at The Old Fire House, Media Lab, Spruce Haus, the band’s practice space, and Tastefully Loud in Seattle, engineered by Wall and mastered by Eric Boulanger at The Bakery in Los Angeles. Set to join No Age, Metz and Bully on a string of dates across the US through November to January, So Pitted will tour extensively through the new year with UK shows to be announced.

Patrick Miller

You can follow So Pitted on Twitter here.