When I heard Pierce Brothers had released a new track called “Dentist,” I was a little wary. Dentists do wonderful work, but like most Aussies, there are people I’d rather visit. Thankfully listening to the new Pierce Brothers track is much more relaxing than any root canal.
“After ‘Kanko’, we wanted to explore a deeper sound, and bring some harmonica back into the studio, which is something our recordings have been missing,” Jack said about the single. “This song was written during the first lockdown earlier in the year. I really wanted to step up my writing so, along with a friend of mine, I started doing a writing exercise every night. This song came out of one of those exercises. The word was Dentist. What flowed out was a reflection on the vulnerability we feel when things are out of our control and we don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s what the song is ultimately about, vulnerability. The dentist part is just a word.”
The folky ditty is complemented by a very 2020 video filmed entirely in Jack Pierce’s Melbourne living room.
“In the time of COVID there is not a whole lot we’ve been able to do shoot-wise. We couldn’t get locations, or extras, or even a real crew, so we had to improvise,” Pat recalled. “Carl and I have worked together on lots of projects before, and we have been talking for a while about teaming up again. It was great just getting back into filming beautiful scenes again and it seems fitting to have the clip be representative of this place in time. We included photos of our friends and family we’re missing to reflect the fact we were, in fact, stuck at home.”
Pierce Brothers have made the most of 2020, finishing the recording of their sophomore album and making music videos just like this. Pat Pierce has also been working with Balancing Act, a charity that connects artists with people with learning disabilities. Thank goodness for Zoom! The year might be winding down, but I hear the duo will still treat us to a few more tracks next year.
Image used with permission from On the Map PR