Brevin Kim - 'ShoulderBlades'
Following ‘It Was Nice to See You’ the duo Brevin Kim releases their new single ‘ShoulderBlades’ which expands into the pair’s complex relationship with the place that raised them.
The single ‘ShoulderBlades’ opens with wide-struck guitar chords, reverb-fuelled vocals and the track is nostalgic even with an ethereal conclusion. One of the brothers Cal speaks on the origins of this song as he says that almost 3 years ago, Bren came home to their Dad’s house in Massachusetts and Bren recorded the song in one take. They didn’t even write it, it was just a freestyle to them, Cal continues that the most authentic ideas come when you just speak without thinking too much, rather than writing your thoughts down.
Before this new single, their 2022 album ‘Pain Project’ arrived as a cathartic exploration of discomfort and vulnerability. From their futuristic rap beats to distorted 80s to then guitar led ballads, this album aligned the boundary breaking experimentation of 100-gecs and genre-fluid approach to pop of acts like Charile XCX who also invited this band to play on her virtual club night.
‘You’ve got so much potential, I want you to know what you got.’
In their visualiser for ‘ShoulderBlades’ which combines a series of vignettes shot around their local high school football team. They grew up in Suburban Massachusetts and American Football was vital for social life and community pride. Despite the brothers participating in the sport, it felt like it was against the odds of creative expression that they both craved.
‘Don’t let anyone tell you you’ve got something’.
Throughout both visualizers from ‘It Was Nice to See You’ and ‘ShoulderBlades’ the sport becomes a representation for the deeper values that formed the bedrock of Brevin Kim small town upbringing which is now viewed retrospectively from their new base in Los Angeles. Throughout this era of visual storytelling, the duo hope to encapsulate the relationship with their hometown, where moving away has allowed them to scrutinise and shed the ideologies, while also embracing the ways where the psychogeography of their former years.
‘I came through too much hell’
Brevin Kim continues to create their music in a way that feels borderless and undefined, and this time holding a mirror to their past. Like Brevin Kim, listen to ‘ShoulderBlades’ and not be a version of anything, other than yourself.
Words by Bethany Simms
