by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
Bands, and artists in general, are not usually that great at describing themselves in a few brief words. Washington DC’s Beauty Pill however seem to be among those rate that can actually do that: “Beauty Pill is a band from Washington DC born in the mouth of 21st century. Most of the songs are about the mouth of the 21st century.” Nothing more, nothing less.
Well, actually, based on their most recent release, the Instant Night EP, there’s much more to it than that. The band - Chad Clark (guitar/vocals), Basla Andolsun (bass), Drew Doucette (guitar), Erin Nelson (vocals), and Devin Ocampo (drums), joined by four additional auxiliary musicians (Victoria Banos, Aaron Harman, Sarah Hughes, Don Godwin) - came up with some intricate song structures, left-field instrumentation, but above all, excellent compositions with equally great lyrics to boot.
There’s more quality music stuffed in these four songs than other bands can achieve in double albums. The title track, which Clark wrote back in 2015 when he heard somebody predict the Trump win in 2016 at at time many thought that to be a joke, is just a tip of the iceberg here. The song wasn’t actually released until the height of the pandemic in fall of 2020, recorded on a rooftop due to Clark being a high risk person to catch Covid-19, making this song a miracle in itself.
Yet, beyond the “Instant Night” single, the music on the EP shifts and turns, from brass to electronic embellishments. It’s all done with imagination and sophistication, pushing potential listeners to go search everything the band has done so far, a search that is quite worth the effort.