Every moment on their self-titled album, out July 22 from Skeletal Lightning, feels like a lightning strike of powerhouse pop, expansive emo, and irresistible math rock. Despite a near-catastrophic flood’s attempt to crush their spirits, Pool Kids persevered, taking the kinds of risks along the way that entire scenes and sounds in the future will be built upon.
One of the album’s highlights, “I Hope You’re Right,” first started out as a completely-unrecognizable demo in 2018, with overly-shreddy riffage and way-too-on-the-nose lyrics about how male musicians sometimes treat and speak to non-male musicians condescendingly, something singer/songwriter/guitarist Christine Goodwyne is all too familiar with. Fast forward to 2021––after hearing from a friend about a date gone wrong, Goodwyne almost immediately knew how to re-work the track, transforming it with a hazy angst and lyrics about “men who think they have perfect politics and nothing left to work on.”
The video for “I Hope You’re Right,” directed by Zach Miller, puts a compelling and gritty spotlight on the story Pool Kids is telling. “It depicts an unusual, complicated sexual relationship with someone who is totally empty upstairs but still somehow obsessed with getting their way,” Christine explains.
1. Conscious Uncoupling
2. That’s Physics, Baby
3. Almost Always Better (Almost Always Worse)
4. Further
5. Talk Too Much
6. Comes In Waves
7. I Hope You’re Right
8. Swallow
9. Couch
10. Waking Up
11. Arm’s Length
12. Pathetic
