There’s a certain clarity that comes at the start of anything—before experience has a chance to sully the experience. “Us Against The World” is Aymen Saleh’s attempt to harness that beginner’s state of mind.
“I actually think it’s universal across all life experiences, even if it’s learning a new skill or starting a new life project,” says the Canterbury, England-raised frontman for Milwaukee’s Holy Pinto. “Your mind is unfettered by difficulty and unpolluted by obstacles and challenges. You’re instilled with hope and absolute belief. The honeymoon period of a relationship is where it’s so true and real. You’re in love and everything’s perfect. And that’s that.”
Benefiting from its own rather lengthy honeymoon period, Wedding Season is a collection of indie-pop keepsakes Saleh has been living with since 2021 as he’s tinkered with arrangements and accumulated incidental sounds and enhancements. Available September 14, Holy Pinto’s self-released third album was assembled from recordings that took place in Saleh’s apartment, a Wisconsin boat warehouse, an Illinois cathedral, a piano repair shop and the Washington, D.C., basement of musician/producer Bartees Strange. A fellow Brit, Strange also plays guitar on “Us Against The World,” a song that references Elliott Smith with its waltz-time lilt.
“I always loved a lot of the piano stuff Elliott wrote and recorded, and I feel like it influenced the kind of stuff I write and play on piano,” says Saleh. “It’s more there just by chance, but it absolutely makes sense that it’s sunk into a lot of what I do.”
We’re proud to premiere Holy Pinto’s “Us Against The World.”
—Hobart Rowland
