Despite offering up the odd track online, Kiwi pop unit Shocking Pinks hasn't actually delivered a proper release since the project's 2007 self-titled set. Good news, though: Nick Harte is set to drop a new Shocking Pinks EP sometime later this year called Guilt Mirrors, with plans to release a new full-length in the works as well.
Under the Radar [via Pitchfork] reports that Harte hopes to issue the mini-release in 2012, possibly via DFA, but plans have yet to be set in stone. An interview with the songwriter, however, explains that the writing sessions for the EP were influenced by a series of earthquakes the musician endured while living in Christchurch, New Zealand.
"I was in Christchurch when the earthquake hit and I lived very unhealthily after that," he told Under the Radar. "I decided to stay in the place I was living in, which was unfortunately in the centre of the city -- I ended up getting evacuated and the place I was in doesn't exist anymore, but it was a nice place to record."
Harte noted that he was also working on a new full-length at the time, and even recorded the releases as the ground shook beneath him. For the record, he realizes this wasn't the best of ideas.
"I was there recording throughout all of the earthquakes -- the 7., the 6., and the 5., -- so quite a few have earthquake noises in the background. I blacked out all the windows and stay up for like five days at a time and didn't sleep, which is very stupid and very unhealthy, but I was just so focused on recording as much as I could: it was my escapism from what was happening around me."
Apparently those sessions yielded upwards of 386 tracks, and Harte says he's trying to pare everything down to "a reasonable length," but also admits that some tracks hover around the 20-minute mark. Only time will tell if this plays out as one condensed LP or a series of new releases from Shocking Pinks.
For now, you can get a taste of the new EP via the eight-minute-plus track "Double Vision Version," which you can check out here (where you can also find the full interview).
As previously reported back in 2011, Harte is aiming to reissue the project's 2004 debut Dance the Dance Electric, though so far no release date has been revealed.
Under the Radar [via Pitchfork] reports that Harte hopes to issue the mini-release in 2012, possibly via DFA, but plans have yet to be set in stone. An interview with the songwriter, however, explains that the writing sessions for the EP were influenced by a series of earthquakes the musician endured while living in Christchurch, New Zealand.
"I was in Christchurch when the earthquake hit and I lived very unhealthily after that," he told Under the Radar. "I decided to stay in the place I was living in, which was unfortunately in the centre of the city -- I ended up getting evacuated and the place I was in doesn't exist anymore, but it was a nice place to record."
Harte noted that he was also working on a new full-length at the time, and even recorded the releases as the ground shook beneath him. For the record, he realizes this wasn't the best of ideas.
"I was there recording throughout all of the earthquakes -- the 7., the 6., and the 5., -- so quite a few have earthquake noises in the background. I blacked out all the windows and stay up for like five days at a time and didn't sleep, which is very stupid and very unhealthy, but I was just so focused on recording as much as I could: it was my escapism from what was happening around me."
Apparently those sessions yielded upwards of 386 tracks, and Harte says he's trying to pare everything down to "a reasonable length," but also admits that some tracks hover around the 20-minute mark. Only time will tell if this plays out as one condensed LP or a series of new releases from Shocking Pinks.
For now, you can get a taste of the new EP via the eight-minute-plus track "Double Vision Version," which you can check out here (where you can also find the full interview).
As previously reported back in 2011, Harte is aiming to reissue the project's 2004 debut Dance the Dance Electric, though so far no release date has been revealed.