After an extended hiatus where they have spent time away from the touring circuit to travel, write and record new music, Pierce Brothers have today announced the release of their new single Dentist, a classic, indie-folk number that represents vulnerability during a trying time. The boys have also released a beautiful performance-based music video, and similar to their last single Kanko, the music video was put together with performances filmed in isolation at their homes; a true sign of the times.
Written during the first lockdown of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, produced by Jan Skubizeski (John Butler, The Cat Empire), mixed by Phil Threfall (Illy, Ed Sheeran), and mastered by Joe Carra at Crystal Mastering (The Tesky Brothers, The Cat Empire) Dentist has smooth folk hooks, with deep, emotional lyrics. Fans of the classic Australian folk elements found in The Tesky Brothers or Paul Kelly will love this new instalment from one of Australia’s favourite duos.
Pierce Brothers’ second release in 2020, Dentist is more of a band vibe than their previous single Kanko. “After Kanko, we wanted to explore a deeper sound, and bring some harmonica back into the studio, which is something our recordings have been missing,” Jack says about the single. “This song was written during the first lockdown earlier in the year. I really wanted to step up my writing so, along with a friend of mine, I started doing a writing exercise every night. This song came out of one of those exercises. The word was Dentist. What flowed out was a reflection on the vulnerability we feel when things are out of our control and we don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s what the song is ultimately about, vulnerability. The dentist part is just a word.”
The video for Dentist was a bit of a process in the time of COVID-19. On the last day before the Stage 4 lockdown was set in place in Melbourne, the boys had to get creative for the film shoot with their friend and collaborator Carl Allison (Dance Monkey, Tones and I). Filmed in Jack’s living room, they set up several shots depicting different aspects of the instrumentation in the track, and played them through. “In the time of COVID there is not a whole lot we’ve been able to do shoot-wise. We couldn’t get locations, or extras, or even a real crew, so we had to improvise,” Pat recalls. “Carl and I have worked together on lots of projects before, and we have been talking for a while about teaming up again. It was great just getting back into filming beautiful scenes again and it seems fitting to have the clip be representative of this place in time. We included photos of our friends and family we’re missing to reflect the fact we were, in fact, stuck at home.”
Since Pierce Brothers burst onto the scene with 2014’s It’s My Fault, Dentist is the second wholly independent release from the duo, preceding Kanko, which was released earlier this year. Both singles are part of a larger body of work being released throughout the rest of 2020 and early 2021. “This year has thrown everyone around like a ragdoll. Tour plans moved time and time again, and going in and out of lockdown,” Jack says, “I’m so excited to have so many new songs in the can and ready to release over the summer! It’ll be nice to see our friends, family, and fans again when we’re allowed back out, and to bring everyone some new material!”
DENTIST is out September 25 through Ditto.
