Review

The World Doesn’t Need Another Band

by

The Reds, Pinks & Purples

Those lucky enough to have picked up on 2019’s Anxiety Art by San Francisco’s The Reds, Pinks & Purples, received their first dose of Glenn Donaldson’s solo output. By design, Donaldson put himself up front after decades of collaboration with various projects including notable favourites, The Skygreen Leopards, Horrid Red as well as Woods and a multitude of cool shit.

Donaldson up until now, is an underground lifer with a seemingly endless supply of song craft pouring out of him. He’s the rare songwriter, who in 2024 could have rubbed elbows and held his own with the cream of the crop of literate indie rock heroes of decades past.

His releases materialize with Pollard-esque prolificness. Bandcamp counts twenty-two releases since the projects inception for 2019’s Anxiety Art.

From the get-go, the Reds, Pinks & Purples’ albums have told tales of music fandom, failure, love, loss and failed record labels. They are filled with world building details not unlike Morrissey or Robert Smith or Bob Mould. And like those forebears of indie woes and triumphs, Donaldson is a master of the written word in song. Witnessing this catalog unfold was like watching a garden bloom, exploding with detail like the vibrant images that adorn RP&P’s albums. The albums are tied together, despite each on having it’s own personality or tone.

The latest release The World Doesn’t Need Another Band maintains a forward momentum building off of 2024’s multiple releases, Unwhishing Well and Adult Art School. All of which have introduced a little more pop, into Glenn’s already melodic arsenal.Unwishing Well’s pop statement Rare Night (Don’t Say Goodbye is a favourite.

The titular track, The World Doesn’t Need Another Band drops the opening line:

The world doesn’t need another band, Was it life or death or someone who understands?

Did it freeze a moment in time? Or make a world in one line?”

.. and like that we are all there.

This gift is further exemplified on opening song Park Statues, where to these ears, a relationship gone bad is compared to statues in the rain. Sad expression, stuck, imoveable unable to change with the solution presented being to knock them down, and maybe plant some flowers instead. Simple and beautiful.

Sonically, recent albums have featured more amplified textures. Not dissimilar to Glenn’s collaborative projects Vacant Lots and Helpful People. Guitars have a squalling quality album closer, Finding Shells on The Beach exemplifies this sound. Layered feedback, fuzzy and tumultuous, spiralling around with no lyrics to attach to.

The flip side to the albums more up tempo tracks, are in many ways the foundation of what The RP&P’s are built upon. The more meditative moments on TWDNAB, Given that this “band” is primarily up until now, a one man recording project operating out of his San Francisco apartment. the songs within the catalog have always had an intimate lighting, as if recorded at dawn. The more meditative moments on TWDNAB, like Don’t Dream Alone, The Last Boardwalk and New Market Space exude a sad and heavy honesty, with whispers intimate delivery.

The more RP&P have released the more their sound is edging towards a proper rock band. Subculture Dreams has an infectious call and response in the chorus that begs to be sang back to the band live. My Toxic Friend rips through a relatable relationship between ourselves and those we keep around despite the friction, the relationships side effect from time.

The more I immerse myself in the music of The RP&P’s the more broke I become keeping up with the physical releases can be pricey, however there is something appropriate about stumbling upon a RP&P’s release in classic fashion, a record store. Seriously though, the more I immerse myself in the music of The Reds, Pinks & Purples, the more I go back to the songs as I would a friend. They are there through the good and the bad. They have inspired and motivated me. They’ve earned a spot on the shelf among my heroes.

Each one as Donaldson puts it, a postcard sent from him to the listener. The world needs more postcards.