PINK SKY: New Horizon, Total Devotion

| by Eric Mitts

Knowing she couldn’t sing and play her drum machines and synths all at the same time live, Angelica invited her drum teacher Jordan Pelphrey to add the dynamic sound of live drums to Pink Sky’s performance experience.

The band has also started working with some other multi-instrumentalists in the area, and might expand to include a fourth member onstage as they prepare to tour in support of their brand new album, Total Devotion (due out Feb. 17).

“Like many other bands, all of our plans to tour were cancelled just as we were building momentum,” Ryan Hay said. “It was a gut punch. For a moment, quitting the project was on the table. Everything about Pink Sky was predicated on the live show, so it was hard to imagine moving forward. We knew we needed to keep playing music together for our personal wellbeing and connection—it is part of our fabric now. But we also knew we couldn’t proceed as planned, and that might mean the end of Pink Sky.”

Instead of stopping, the duo went inward, reexamining their roles as collaborators, bringing in more live instruments, and diving into the world of creating music on the computer for the first time in their careers.

“In 2021, we started releasing an instrumental song every two weeks to regularly engage with our audience,” Ryan Hay said. “It was fun but tiring, and not really our authentic medium. We prefer to make albums and embrace the story building they enable. Unsurprisingly, after a few months of biweekly singles, we were burned out and disillusioned by the approach. And, all the while, we were a few months deep into recording music with vocals, which was infinitely more exciting than releasing all of the remaining singles. The instrumental music wasn’t as exciting, in part because it wasn’t as scary. So we pivoted and went fully towards our new lyrical music, even though it had significant implications.”

Those implications collided with the already established identity of the band, and what it meant for them as an outlet for deep, personal reflection and healing.

“We never intended to become a vocal band,” Angelica Hay said. “We fell into discovering our voices unintentionally. We thought it’d be cool to have a few songs with lyrics, but had originally intended on having someone else sing our lyrics, but when we laid down the scratch takes, we were surprised by how much we liked our voices. We had no experience singing, and it was an exciting new way to express ourselves. It was also terrifying, but in the invigorating and challenging way that usually foreshadows personal growth.”

“We named ‘Total Devotion’ after the final song on the album,” Angelica Hay said. “‘Total Devotion’ really encompassed everything the album was about on a multidimensional level. The album is about the total devotion we have to the band, to one another, to creating art and music—and it’s about the rewards and the costs of that devotion. At times, our commitment to each of these things has been so powerful that it’s eclipsed other parts of our lives, which is profoundly meaningful but also distressing.

“So really, it’s about dealing with the consequences and rewards of our choices and recognizing that our relationship to Pink Sky is best understood as an exchange,” she added. “The rewards of ‘Total Devotion’ can be extraordinary, but the path requires significant risk, sacrifice, and faith. We hope that the album ‘Total Devotion’ conveys the intensity of our dedication to the band, to our growth, and to each other.”

Pink Sky has also completed a sister album, entitled Disenchantment , with plans to possibly release that as early as later this year.

“The whole time we wrote and recorded these songs, I was so afraid – afraid of being inadequate and of being too old to start sharing like this,” Ryan Hay said. “I was afraid of alienating myself from friends and family. I was afraid nobody would like the new music, which was so much more ‘me.’ I was afraid of being unable to finish the album and of being unable to share the songs, but mostly, I was afraid of not being able to perform them. I feared that I’d write all these songs and be too ashamed to perform them, and that’d be the end of my musical career. The end of my identity as I know it.

“For over a year, all of this was on my mind and on the line. Each song was a battle against these fears. So more than anything else, all the songs I wrote are me working through the most difficult trial of my life, fighting to overcome years of unchecked fear and negative self-esteem.” ■

PINK SKY Wsg. Ethereal, Hi-Ker

The Pyramid Scheme, 68 Commerce Ave. SW, Grand Rapids Feb. 3, 7 p.m., $15 advance, All-ages pinkskymusic.com

Fast becoming a festival favorite – with performances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Shaky Knees, and other destination events last year – Florida indie-rock outfit flipturn has won over more and more fans with their warm vibes and high-energy live show.

Currently on the second leg of their headlining tour in support of their critically-acclaimed debut album, Shadowglow , (released last August) flipturn has hit the road hard this month, stopping at The Pyramid Scheme Feb. 16, and playing nearly every single day this month, before finishing their tour back in Florida with a set at this year’s Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival on March 5.

“I do think living and growing up in Florida had somewhat of an influence on our sound and perhaps gives it a ‘summery’ feel at times,” flipturn lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Dillon Basse told Revue . “It is the sunshine state, so when we’re writing or listening back to ideas, it’s usually in a summery climate.”

Even though they’re not excited to experience winter weather for the first time while touring, the young fivepiece is looking forward to making new memories and having new experiences after growing up together in the small town of Fernandina Beach in Northeastern Florida, where Basse, bassist Madeline Jarman, and lead guitarist Tristan Duncan formed the band back in 2015 while still in high school.

“We just moved from our hometown this month to the neighboring big city, Jacksonville,” Jarman said. “We like sticking together as a unit, and we’re best friends with each other. I think that bit can be attributed to us being from a smaller town. After our tours end, I love going home to

Florida because it’s where all of our families are, and it’s like a nice warm blanket of familiarity. We experience so much on the road, so it’s nice just to go back home to see loved ones and try to get back into our normal daily routines.”

Formed in Jarman’s garage, flipturn developed their sound playing long college-bar shows in Gainesville, and gigging almost right out of the gate.

“It is honestly really freaking surreal,” Jarman said. “Being in a touring band was something that we all dreamed of doing when we were younger. The fact that people even listen to our music is insane. I feel incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received over the years. It’s wild to think about how we started this band seven years ago, when we were just seniors in high school. So much life has happened since then, and I’m so proud of us for sticking to our guns to make this dream of ours a reality. I’m super appreciative of all of my bandmates for grinding and prioritizing the band so that we can live out our dreams and make our little teenager selves proud.”

Although they’ve since received strong reviews for their album Shadowglow , from indie outlets like Consequence and Paste , flipturn’s success really comes from appearing on over 260,000 playlists independently created by fans, helping them cross the coveted 1 million monthly listeners mark on Spotify, amassing over 60 million streams on the platform and counting.

Gaining momentum on the road right before COVID-19 hit, however, flipturn had to pull a 180 when the pandemic closed everything down in 2020.

“It was definitely a big change,” lead guitarist Tristan Duncan said. “We feel that playing live really helps us hone