Photo credit: Matt Ridenour
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"The album deftly blends rollicking numbers like 'Lie Here' with more ethereal tracks like 'Mangled Hearts,' all without losing a core emotionality. The album's cover positions a delicate flower in the middle of a black background, smattered with the faint imprints of other flowers. Visually resonant and strikingly beautiful in equal measure, this is the perfect representation of the moody, dark pop that is found on Do I Look Like I'm In Love?"
- The 405
"Do I Look Like I’m In Love? illustrates the Portland dark pop band’s mettle through keen lyrical observations, but also in its attention to sonic detail and songcraft—this record couldn’t have been made by any other band at any other time."
- Tattoo
"Now, the band is back and showcasing why they’ve been a favorite of the DIY noise-pop crowd throughout their 22-year career."
- Out Magazine
"An authentic and integral part of the independent music scene."
- Post-Punk
"Portland shoegaze/punk mainstays."
- She Shreds
"With guitar tones ripped from the C86 compilation and shamelessly lovelorn lyrics, it's no wonder the Prids have been likened to 1980s gloom-pop titans the Cure and the Smiths."
- Willamette Week
"The pair sing together, mixing Keith’s delicate delivery with Frederickson’s moody, muddy vox..."
- SPIN
"This Portland, Oregon-based band strips down indie rock, then builds it back up with beats and synths. The sound is shoegazing a la My Bloody Valentine and electronic a la Eno, but some of their tunes have more sizable melodies and grooves."
- NY Post
"Mixes the Chameleons’ atmospheric psych pop with Pixies-esque male/female vocals."
- Magnet
"The majority of the songs that follow plod, then sweep, then plod some more—but in a good way—and shift textures and tempos to create mood in a strikingly short and sweet amount of time."
- PopMatters |
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Today, Portland, OR-based, noise pop band, The Prids, share their new LP, Do I Look Like I'm In Love? via This-a-Way Records. Yesterday, The 405 exclusively streamed the album, praising the band's distinct brand of emotive dark pop and commemorating their turbulent journey throughout the recording process. The album was recorded and co-produced by Sean Flora (The Shins, The Black Keys, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks) at Rock 'n' Roll B&B on Sauvie Island, 15 miles north of Portland.
Having spearheaded the Pacific Northwest DIY scene, bassist and vocalist Mistina La Fave, vocalist and guitarist David Frederickson, drummer Gordon Nickel and keyboardist and bassist Tim Yates, The Prids's career has spanned over 20 years. The band has toured alongside Built to Spill, among other notable acts, and Henry Rollins is a long time fan. Having faced a life altering brain hemorrhage in Spring 2015, La Fave and the rest of the band are set to pick up where they left off with this forthcoming release. The album is out on the band's own DIY label, This-a-Way Records, which has been instrumental in the band's culture for the past 20 years.
Do I Look Like I’m In Love? illustrates the Portland dark pop band’s mettle through keen lyrical observations, but also in its attention to sonic detail and song craft—this record couldn’t have been made by any other band at any other time. “Do I Look Like I’m In Love?” and “The Shape” both swirl and build like dreams filled with grey skies and the flickering faces of past friends and lovers. These songs nudge up against the air-brushed punk of “Lie Here” and the bass-driven “Colliding,” which recalls the dazed jangle of early R.E.M. More than two decades in, The Prids have made the best and most cohesive album of their career. |
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The fact that there’s even a new Prids record is a miracle. In March of 2015 bassist-vocalist Mistina La Fave suffered a brain hemorrhage the night before the band was scheduled to enter the studio. The recovery was physically and mentally taxing, and La Fave is lucky to be alive, let alone playing and performing again. The Prids’ 22 years have been marked with death, sickness, divorce, and a near-fatal van crash that cut a tour short and left members bloody and broken—but they survive through the friendship and bond of founding members La Fave and guitarist-vocalist David Frederickson. While those events have invariably made their way into the band’s narrative, the two simply chalk it up to life.
They met in La Fave’s small hometown of Saint Joseph, Missouri, in 1995, not long after Frederickson had moved there from Southern California. They started a relationship (they divorced in 2001, not long after they married), formed The Prids, and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, before settling in Portland, Oregon, in 1999. In that time they’ve released four full-lengths and a trail of EPs, toured all over the world, while gaining the respect of bands throughout Portland for their tenacity and longevity (The Prids are one of the longest-running active bands in the city). They continue to make music for the right reasons—with or without a label, for themselves. A few years ago they brought in drummer Gordon Nickel and multi-instrumentalist Tim Yates, their sturdiest lineup to date. These four individuals are what make Do I Look Like I’m In Love? such a special record.
Throughout it all The Prids have remained completely DIY (the band even launched its own label/artist collective This-a-Way Records in 1996). Their videos and album art are as brilliantly conceived as the music itself. And in 2017 the Prids are playing with the same ardor they did 20 years ago. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and this band is the embodiment of that.
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