Artists You Should Know: Pen Pin Keep "The Boredom" at Bay with Glimmering Glee on New Single and Music Video

Drenched in a glistening surf rock DIY outfit Pen Pin has shared a new single and music video for “The Boredom,” a fittingly dreamy but sullen end-of-summer ode. It’s also the latest single to preview the band’s forthcoming debut LP Pony Up which arrives sometime next spring. The project of songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeni Magana and Emily Moore, the duo met while touring alongside Mitski, bonding over a shared love of warmly radiating vintage pop.

Pen Pin’s newest offering wrangles with the moments when we find ourselves struggling and sinking helplessly beneath a wave of dopamine deficiency. “Everyone’s in technicolor but it’s not for you,” they coo. “Not depression, not the question, you don’t have the blues.” Yet despite its headfirst dive into such lugubriousness, the song is kept afloat by the duo’s gleaming vocals and earnestly sun-soaked melodics.

“I hope it serves as a reminder not to be too hard on ourselves when we find ourselves scrolling through our phones yet again, without knowing how we got there,” Magana explained. “‘The Boredom’ isn’t necessarily evil, but it’s a character that you might not always want around but seems to show up when you least expect it anyway.”

“The Boredom” is joined by a charming music video directed by Magana that follows the two bandmates as they attempt to enjoy a nice relaxing afternoon beachside. But shenanigans soon ensue when a comical giant blue robot appears (a manifestation of the song’s titular feeling), stalking the group and even attempting to snatch away the instruments they’re jamming out with on the sand. Filmed like a retro home video the visual is a lighthearted accompaniment to the song’s nostalgically waxing melody.

Make sure you lend an ear to some of Pen Pin’s other releases, including the irresistibly punchy “Fringe” with its gauzily bittersweet atmospherics and gloaming guitars. Against these intoxicating textures and tones — as well as a wistful intonation of piano keys — the duo captures the forlorn reminisces of the good times in a relationship that’s just begun to sour.