Pill – Fruit
A coolly pulsing groove with a tense undertow, “Fruit” explores the paralysis of political anxiety in 2018. The track from Brooklyn post-punk foursome Pill’s Soft Hell full-length builds on a spare saxophone-and-guitar phrase, undergirded by steady bass and a motorik rhythm. Gradually, guitar shimmer and echo enter from the margins, with arresting saxophone runs ramping up to explosive yet momentary refrains. Vocalist Veronica Torres sounds at first restrained, her voice gathering rasp and intensity before reaching an incantatory denouement: “Fall down! Domino-ooh-oh / Fall down! Domino-ooh-oh.”
Allusive and impressionistic, Torres said the lyrics are inspired by the tendency to withdraw amid nonstop bad news and a depressing political landscape. “It’s total anxiety,” she said. “I remember a period of time in New York when people seemed to be just not leaving their homes.” At the same time, she explained, it’s a call to action: While staying inside can seem like self-preservation, it’s important to build power in the streets. “T-t-t-t-tip, to start over,” she stutters suggestively in the outro. “T-t-t-t-tip, to start over.”