by Anna Solomon (@chateau.fiasco)
In the six years since their debut Girlish, the three members of Gal Pal finished college, moved back to LA, released the EP Unrest/Unfeeling, and opened for acts such as Pile and Momma. Now, their long-awaited follow-up This and Other Gestures is due out June 2nd. While their earlier work was created from Emelia Austin (she/her), Shayna Hahn (she/her), and Nico Romero (he/him) writing and improvising in a room together, the material on their sophomore set was written separately by individual members, bringing their different voices and experiences to the table more clearly.
“Pleasures,” the album’s fourth single, is immediately marked by the bright guitars and atmospheric synths that have been consistent throughout all the singles we’ve heard from this record, along with samples of baseball commentary carefully chosen to match the track’s themes. The 5/4 groove feels deliberately uneven and unsettled when it first enters, but once it clicks, you’ll wonder why Genesis never made a dream pop album. Romero, who takes lead on this song, discusses his trans identity and his relationships with family in a way that sounds frustrated, but ultimately triumphant. Over the lush final stretch, he leaves us with the mantra “I’m better all the time, much better all the time.”
About the song, Nico Romero says:
"My transhood was always about staying alive. What could I do and be in order to see a future for myself. Before testosterone and top surgery, simple pleasures of living, like showers, sleep, intimacy, rest, any reminder of being in a body made me feel sick. Taking hormones was like medicine, the way every day felt just a hair better than the last. One of the first changes I noticed came when I thought, ‘wow I really look like my brothers and my dad.’ These people in my life that have represented different forms of masculinity and access to ‘manhood’, I wondered the most if they saw me, would they see me in their world, as their brother and son. Baseball’s presence in this track is for my dad and our relationship, but it also represents the triumph of winning your fight. At its end, this song is an ode to transness and in that, an ode to staying alive.”