Having played in various outfits together over the years, MrPink formed around Mark Russell (guitar), Michael Smith (drums), Ciaran Buchanan (bass) and Adam Mullan(vocals). Forgoing any previous bands and throwing off the shackles of a cover scene, from the outset the band were keen not to be pinned down to one particular sound, opting for the freedom found in a genreless approach to their writing. The creative process often relies on ideas rising up out of the sound bath of jams in the practice room, while the band pull on influences that range from RHCP and Peter Gabriel to Queen, Muse and The Police.
The process for ‘Love Hate Heartbreak’ differed, making it an outlier amongst their catalogue. Instead the track was born of a demo Mark had gestating for a number of years before bringing it to the band. Taking their individual hammers to the anvil, each member of the band brought their own touch to the demo expanding upon it and turning it into a MrPink track.
The track starts off with some quick kick and snare work, before the bass and guitar join and begin to tease the funk out of the track. Despite the up-tempo BPM of the track, there’s an inherent tension to the music which is then given voice by Adams lyrics, initially improvised as the band ran through the track and built from the feeling the track evoked. Adam sings of the back and forth nature of relationships as they flip between good and bad times, the duality in the feelings this can cause but ultimately finding the positive no matter what. As the track progresses and the pre-chorus hits it opens up releasing some of the tension, while blending in some Faith No More with Peter Gabriel. Wah-wah guitar punctuates the second verse, while the bass keeps things locked down. The gang vocal starting a call and response that rounds of the chorus further emphasis the duality the track seeks to evoke. Pseudo-disco takes us into new territory as we hit the midpoint carried home by a flurry of lead guitar and pounding drums before the refrain of ‘love hate heartbreak’.
Mr Pink – Love Hate Heartbreak (Spotify Link)
Mr Pink – Love Hate Heartbreak (official music video)
To help capture their sound the band turned to Paddy Silver at Traxx Studios, with recording taking place over a few days the band spent time layering in additional guitar and percussion to help add depth and some ear candy to pull you back for repeat listens!
The accompanying video is something truly special, calling on the talents of artist Ciara Dunne (@cardboard_ciara) to help create a visual counterpoint to the track. The stop-motion video perfectly wraps a visual around the track, replicating the musical influence of Peter Gabriel to the visual, pulling influence from his iconic ‘Sledgehammer’ video. Ciara’s video is entirely her own though as she adds a visual language to the music.
‘Love Hate Heartbreak’ showcases only one facet of MrPink but in doing so provides a focused delivery, while still pulling from the smorgasbord of sounds and influences that make MrPink the band they are. Coupled with a one of a kind video the track acts as a flag in the moon moment for MrPink.
31st May – The Pavilion, Belfast * Love Hate Heartbreak Single Launch HEADLINE*