Pinc Louds’ Claudi started writing “Sequins (Do The Twenty Two)” at exactly 11:38 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2021. “I was at a New Year’s party and had shut myself inside the bathroom with my newborn son,” says the group’s lead singer. “He was wailing like a baby, and I was trying to get him to fall asleep before midnight so I could, you know, do all those things one does at midnight on New Year’s.”
It wasn’t uncommon for Claudi to make up songs while they danced around with their baby in their arms. “If I liked what I was singing, I’d record it on my phone,” says Claudi. “But when I started fleshing out this song months later, it became something else. I saw myself in an imaginary future alone, yearning for this piece of hope I’d lost—a life I’d lost. I was going mad … going out painting the town with sequins. Making things artificially shiny, cramming myself into crowded elevators just to feel some kind of human contact. In short, I wanted to go back to that night in the bathroom, when I still had a family.”
As it happens, Claudi did lose their mind for a spell in 2023. “I had a mental breakdown,” says Claudi. “Ironically, I had to start taking pills—but a different kind.”
Prior to that, Pinc Louds appeared to be on their way to something. In 2015, Claudi had moved from Puerto Rico to New York City with the singular aspiration to play music in the subway. They did just that, acquiring core Pinc Louds members Marc Mosteirin (keyboards, bass) and Matt Dallal (drums) along the way. They moved their self-styled “imaginary band” from the tunnels to the parks, building a fan base and selling out clubs with their all-over-the-place collision of punk, avant folk, art rock, electronica and Afro-Caribbean strains. Amid 2020’s pandemic restrictions, Pinc Louds became a regular attraction at Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. Their shows were immersive, participatory free-for-alls involving (among other things) giant puppets created with found and recycled materials.
After their breakdown, Claudi seriously considered leaving music for good, but the uncertainty wouldn’t last. By the end of 2023, Pinc Louds were in the studio with producer Gordon Raphael (Strokes) recording “Sequins” and three other singles for their upcoming LP, You Can’t Eat The Moon And Be A Werewolf Too (Needlejuice), available August 15.
“Gordon came in and instantly knew how to capture the feel and feelings of ‘Sequins,’” says Claudi. “We recorded it live … except for the distorted marimba and synth madness at the end. I think we got it on the second take. It was a breeze—a cathartic breeze and a most welcome smooth landing to the rollercoaster ride that was those two years of my life.”
We’re proud to premier Pinc Louds’ “Sequins (Do The Twenty Two).”
—Hobart Rowland
