Pinkshift guide us through the creation of their second album, ‘Earthkeeper’, out August 29 via Hopeless Records.
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Leaning against towering redwood trees, surrounded by ancient leaves and an almost psychedelic stillness, Pinkshift found something they didn’t even know they were missing.
It was 2023, and the band were taking a pit stop in the middle of a gruelling touring schedule. Feeling the physical and emotional strain of a life on the road, the Baltimore trio needed a reset. That afternoon, they pulled over and felt the soft, worn-down trunk of a fallen tree pressing into their backs. As they lay against its surface and gazed up through the canopy of leaves, time seemed to slow.
“It was just so peaceful,” vocalist Ashrita Kumar recalls.
“When you surrender yourself to that feeling, you experience this inner expansiveness and deep connection with your environment. You feel so present, aware, and together with that environment. We were lying down, staring up at the trees, and we could forget about everything else in the world. It was this overwhelming feeling of being welcomed, forgiven, and embraced. It felt like the trees were telling me, ‘Everything you need is here.’”
Amidst a world teetering on collapse – facing fascism, authoritarianism, environmental devastation, rising global conservatism, and existential dread – this quiet reminder from nature felt revolutionary. A place where no agenda was set and no pressures were applied, that moment became the spiritual spark for ‘Earthkeeper’.
An album that questions how we can all find that sense of peace amidst the world’s chaos, Pinkshift’s latest venture is one of sheer defiance. A rediscovery of purpose, and an expulsion of anger, grief, and sorrow, it’s time to dive into the Baltimore trio’s most powerful statement yet.
THE SOUND
When they dropped their 2022 debut ‘Love Me Forever’, Pinkshift had little experience of the stark realities of band life. Wide-eyed and burning with possibility, since then the trio have spent two years sharing a van, a stage, and learning about themselves with every new experience.
Touring has taught them patience and vital communication skills, but it’s also taught them who they are – and perhaps more importantly – who they aren’t. Often lumped in with the pop-punk revival scene, the outside perception of their sound had never sat right with them. Now, it’s time to set the record straight.
“After a few years of touring, you come out feeling physically and mentally wrecked,” guitarist Paul Vallejo nods.
“You feel like an older version of yourself, and the approaches that we used to write songs back in 2021 felt ingenuine. We tried to take different avenues, and we wanted to focus on jamming all of the songs live in our practice space before we even thought about putting them on a computer.”
That led to the trio’s first ever writing retreat, booking an isolated cabin with no other intention than reconnecting and letting their inspiration flow. Feeling out their creative chemistry, testing out fresh songwriting techniques, and sharing music that had inspired each of them, it allowed them to feel truly excited about making music together again.
Getting the chance to see countless bands shred onstage, and taking in recommendations from their peers, they found that their collective tastes had shifted considerably. With Paul and drummer Myron Houngbedji fixated on the low-tuned guitars and visceral emotion captured by the likes of Knocked Loose and Loathe, the foundations were laid for Pinkshift’s sonic evolution.
“The song that catalysed the album was ‘Blood’,” Ashrita says.
“It was our first real attempt at a live demo. We didn’t do any of it on a computer, we just added whatever came to mind and jammed it out. We recorded ourselves on a multi-track in the practice room, and that became how we approached a lot of the album. We focused on what felt good whilst the song was being played, how it existed in real time, and how we felt in our bodies when we heard each part of it.”
A powerful exploration of indigeneity, colonialism, and the violent erasure of cultures, ‘Blood’ became the emotional and sonic core of ‘Earthkeeper’. Its influence splintering into the slow-burning surge of ‘Spiritseeker’, the shimmering intimacy and ripping guitar solo of ‘Reflection, and the pummelling intent of ‘Vacant, growth is the ultimate driving force behind the band’s second full-length.
With album one, they entered the studio armed only with the songs that made the final record. This time around, there were countless ideas swirling around, and entire songs were cut in the process. Growing into better musicians and intuitive storytellers, the twelve tracks on ‘Earthkeeper’ push Pinkshift to a whole new level of excellence.
“We dialled in our ability to create dynamics within songs,” Myron explains.
“The first record was a punk rock record. Even though there are dynamics on it, they only last for a few seconds. This time around… I’m not even playing for the first minute of ‘Reflection’. Then, the verses of ‘Suspended’ bring you back down to this bossa nova groove, with Paul playing a pretty guitar line before it breaks into a huge, hard-hitting chorus. The songs don’t stay in one lane.”
THE LYRICS
Vulnerability is nothing new to Pinkshift. Woven into every line Ashrita pens, that rawness is utterly inseparable from the band’s DNA, but there’s a notably different feeling to the honesty found in ‘Earthkeeper’.
Inspired by the unity of creating 2024 single ‘ONENATION’ and the gang vocal tendencies of New Jersey power-pop outfit Pollyanna, this time all three of the member’s voices shine through. With Paul handling lead vocals on hardcore-influenced cut ‘Don’t Fight’, and everyone contributing prominent vocal parts to ‘Anita Ride’, it’s a collective interrogation of grief, identity, and what it means to belong in a world that feels like it’s falling apart.
“I think the biggest question this album is asking is – how do I keep going when everything is burning?” Ashrita says.
“It all comes back to that moment in the redwoods and questioning your role in it all. Grief is a huge part of that, because it makes you think not only about why you’re here, but why someone else isn’t. That’s where songs like ‘Patience’ and ‘Don’t Fight’ come from, this idea of questioning why you’re allowed to live but someone else isn’t.”
It’s a grief that spans not only across personal tragedy, but global ones. Many of the album’s lyrics taken from Ashrita’s journals, they capture a vital moment in time. The trio moving into adulthood, experiencing loss, and feeling responsibility on a deeper level, they’re also witnessing grief on a world stage. With 24/7 access to footage of a genocide in their palms, seeing world leaders turn a blind eye to the atrocities unfolding, there’s also a sense of helplessness within ‘Earthkeeper’.
“There’s a line in ‘Evil Eye’ that says, ‘Thought I could save the world,’” the vocalist shrugs.
“We have all these grand ideas of how we can affect our environment, but first we have to accept the loss that has happened. It’s a difficult thing to navigate, and everybody is navigating it in real time. How can you feel peace when so many people are suffering and dying? Why do bad things happen to good people? There’s so much that doesn’t make sense. I haven’t figured it out, and I don’t think anyone else has. These songs are an honest conversation with a higher version of ourselves, the person that we want to be.”
For all its fury and despair, ‘Earthkeeper’ is ultimately an album about presence. About staying grounded. About remembering that healing is possible, not through ignorance, but through deep, painful awareness. Closing out on ‘Something More’ – an ode to resilience, rebirth, and the radical act of dreaming – it’s an album that proclaims we were all made for more than just survival.
“That’s why the album starts and ends in the way that it does,” Ashrita explains.
“’Love It Here’ was inspired by going to protests and hearing the chants. When you’re seeing all of this shit on your phone, you can feel helpless. Then you go to a protest and see that everybody is on the same page as you. We’re all chanting together, and we’re so powerful as a group. It’s that idea of hearing truth spoken to power and feeling like you could be a part of it.”
THE COLLABORATORS
Going into album two, Pinkshift were more in touch with themselves than ever before. With Paul making multiple visits to Peru to deepen his connection to his family, and Ashrita returning to India for the first time since the pandemic, they reunited with renewed clarity on not only their own identities – but that of their band.
Knowing exactly what they wanted to say, and precisely how they wanted to say it, they headed into the studio with Brett Romnnes. That session giving birth to ‘ONENATION’ and ‘Reflection’ – experimenting with weird pedals, screamed harmonies, and interesting guitar textures – it became clear that he was the key they needed to unlock even more new parts of themselves.
“The three of us are super anxious in the studio, but it was such a relaxed environment,” Ashrita says.
“Brett encouraged us to take all the time we needed to indulge an idea, and he brought out sides of us that we didn’t even know existed.”
“He helped us to lean into every influence we could think of,” Paul adds.
“That’s why this record sounds the way that it does. We all listen to different things, and that diverse spectrum of sounds and energies inevitably seeped into every corner of these songs with Brett’s help.”
“On the first album, we were focused on how the songs would sound live, but we thought less about that this time. I grew up listening to My Chemical Romance and Pierce The Veil, and they have all of these textures layered into their record that you don’t hear live. The album and the live show are almost separate entities. Brett pulled out all of these pedals and kept adding different layers to every song. That added so much to the sonic landscape, but it doesn’t take away from how heavy it sounds.”
THE TITLE & ARTWORK
The word ‘Earthkeeper’ was first scrawled in Ashrita’s journal after their encounter with the redwoods, but its meaning grew with every song written for the band’s next era.
Its artwork depicting an hourglass filled with an image of clear skies and mighty trees, a human hand appears to be in control of its fate. Surrounded by a mysterious void, it’s an image that captures what the record has come to mean to the trio.
“I think we wrote the album and then figured out what it was afterwards,” Ashrita explains.
“The message is that you have all the answers that you’re looking for inside you. There’s a lot of power in that, and ‘Earthkeeper’ is the void that you’re screaming into. You know exactly what you need, you just need to figure out what’s stopping you from getting there. It’s in your blood, in that indigeneity and ancient wisdom.”
“There’s a lot of pain in getting there, but once you get through that, it’s magical and beautiful,” they continue.
“The only way to get through the pain is believing in magic and having faith that everything is going to be okay. It’s not about ignoring the problems, but it’s about how we work through them and respond to them. The future is everything that you can create. You’re the builder of worlds. You are the Earthkeeper.”
THE FUTURE
An album that completely redefines and realigns Pinkshift’s vision, it makes sense to learn that this was very close to becoming the trio’s self-titled record.
Walking out of the studio with the unanimous feeling that they had found their sound and their purpose, ‘Earthkeeper’ is a formidable reimagining of what their band could be, but as far as they’re concerned – the best is still yet to come.
“We haven’t peaked,” Ashrita asserts.
“We found our voice with this record, and this feels like a huge turning point for us. We’ve learned how to work together, how to realise our ideas, and we’ve become more confident in our artistry. I want everyone to hear this record, because I know they’re going to love it. That might sound delusional, but I’m sure that everyone can find something to love here. We love every piece of it, and this is the first time we’ve ever felt so certain about something.”
“When we started this band, we were writing music just to feel something,” Paul finishes.
“Over time, it evolved into a space where the three of us can grow as musicians and as people. What’s evident with this record is that whilst Myron is the drummer, I’m the guitarist, and Ashrita is the vocalist… We are Pinkshift. We’ve all grown so much, and if you’ve followed our band from the first EP, you’ve seen us gain confidence and grow as people. This band is our little safe space, and now it’s everybody else’s safe space too.”