Sounding like the lovechild of LANY and The Band Camino had a baby, local outfit PRETTY TALKS has really impressed me with their sophomore single “Hurt Me”.
“’Hurt Me’ is a snapshot of a relationship in its most tumultuous moments, a relationship breaking down, where neither person is necessarily at fault,” the band explained. “The outcome being that one person decides to put everything on the line whilst the other has already mentally checked out. It’s that feeling of “I know we’ve both made mistakes in this, but let’s give it one last chance”. It’s also about the moments of weakness; when you realise it’s not evolving in a positive way and you wish you could pretend it was just how it used to be”.
The single’s release also comes with a video filmed in and around bassist Hadi Ansell and drummer and backing vocalist Tommy O’Brien’s previous place in Sydney’s inner West. The clip brings to life a concept from singer and guitarist Liam Deans, who has a keen interest in filmmaking and screenwriting.
“The Hurt Me music video is aesthetically inspired by the English television show ‘Skins’, combined with an early-2010’s Tumblr-esque Pinterest board,” he said. “An emotional, volatile and messy relationship paired with a dirty, youthful abandon. It felt like an honest and real song to write and a beautiful thing to create on film. I scripted, storyboarded, directed and edited the music video, so it was great seeing all my tiny little concepts slowly come to life. We endeavour to build a world around our art and band, so we played with the ideas of hiding Easter eggs and band member cameos throughout this clip, adding another layer of meaning in which we are part of this universe that we build our songs in.”
Another single will drop in the not-too-distance future, but until then, PRETTY TALKS are feeling pretty proud of this one. As well they should!
“From writing, producing and recording the song, to developing, writing, shooting, editing the music video, it all feels like a joyful sigh of relief. It feels like we’ve created a real piece of well-rounded art with ‘Hurt Me’,” Lian added. “Something that conveys the story in the gritty romantic aesthetic that we wanted.”
Image used with permission from On the Map PR; credit: Megan Donnelly @megs_and_the_negs