Name: Pacing Returns With Another Movingly Poetic Single “Bite Me” From Upcoming Second Album
Uploaded: 2023-06-08T11:10:00-07:00
Channel: Steven Ward
Description: Pacing is back with a new single "Bite Me," which arrives as the first preview of their forthcoming second album. The project of singer/songwriter Katie McTigue, whose meandering lyricism walks a tightrope of incisive introspections, just released their off-beat (even for them) but poignant Snake Facts EP. The new record will also serve as the

Pacing is back with a new single “Bite Me,” which arrives as the first preview of their forthcoming second album. The project of singer/songwriter Katie McTigue, whose meandering lyricism walks a tightrope of incisive introspections, just released their off-beat (even for them) but poignant Snake Facts EP. The new record will also serve as the follow-up to her debut hatemail — which introduced the world to the heartfelt loquaciousness and whimsical poetic quality of her music

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“Bite Me” whittles away via a tender acoustic medley deepened by a rich lull of strings and McTigue’s own haphazard tangle of discordant images. “Real poetry is always about plants / and birds and trees / And the animals,” she murmurs thoughtfully. “And milk and honey / breathing in the pink.” Unfortunately, those aren’t the sights that she finds herself surrounded by. Suddenly the light buoyancy of the song’s melody takes a melancholic turn as she laments: “Real life is behind a screen / Skimming and scrolling.”

And what Pacing offers in return — amidst a mournful change of scenery from lemon trees to Apple Stores — is more than just catharsis. “So you can bite me / If it makes you feel any better,” she offers. Inviting all that bitterness (her own and yours) to sweeten her coffee, weaving her elusively perceptive lyricism between a tangle of heavy strums.

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“Bite Me” reveals the tentative and somewhat illusory divisions that exist between us and the “real world.” As she points out in the song, disconnection via technology is a reality of the world we live, but unplugging isn’t as easy or always instantly beneficial as it might seem. Yet she is right there with you, smashing screens (accidentally or purposefully) as she sings: “You’re breaking it with me.”

McTigue said of the album: “I think the obvious theme of this record is ‘What is real?’ ‘Real’ is a word people throw around a lot, like ‘real food’ or ‘that’s so real.’ I like thinking about stuff like ‘What counts as real art?’ I don’t think of myself as a Real Musician because, well, I’m just obviously not one. I think of myself as more of a Person With Some Stuff to Say.”