During a pit stop while travelling between shows in 2023, Pinkshift found a huge fallen redwood tree. The three of them (Vocalist Ashrita Kumar (they/them), guitarist Paul Vallejo (he/him) and drummer Myron Houngbedji (he/him) lay down on the trunk, staring up at the canopy of leaves from the trees around them. What followed is an experience Kumar describes as almost psychedelic. They felt as if the trees were inviting them to stay there forever. “I heard these voices telling me that I’m welcome here,” they recall, “and everything I could ever want is in this space.”
That beautiful, perspective-altering moment of stillness and peace that grounded them in the present was a reminder of how much nature can teach us, if only we slow down, connect to it and open ourselves up to its wisdom. “I think nature is really inspiring,” they explain. “It’s the biggest and most incredible creative force that we witness as people. Nature is always moving forward. It’s always creating, it’s always changing, it’s always evolving. We have a lot to learn from that. I feel like there’s sacrifices that nature makes for the for the world – animals die, plants die, then something takes its place.” Shortly after, they wrote the words ‘earth keeper’ in their journal. They felt, in that moment, that they had rediscovered their life’s meaning. I know why I am here.
But they were angry too, Ashrita says ‘about the wildfires, feeling helpless in my body, living under the threat of capitalism, rising global conservatism, and the existential dread climate change had instilled in me permanently. And after October 7th, I couldn’t help but feel immense grief and anger over the rapid genocide in Gaza, and the rise of fascist, white supremacist rhetoric. I felt a kind of desperation, and I felt it everywhere around me. I and those around me were affected deeply and personally. So many people around me were fighting and shutting down, lost, angry, and confused. I wanted the Earth to heal me, but it felt like all I could hear was the Earth screaming.
It was at this point the band began gathering ideas for their second album, Earthkeeper with the nu metal-tinged ‘Blood’ emerging first and becoming the “seed song” from which the rest of the music would germinate.
Earthkeeper is a record that bursts at the seams with big riffs, big feelings and big ideas. At its core is a spiritual being whose name gives the record its title, “a reflection of universal consciousness and a protector of existence”. It’s a patchwork of anxiety, angst, grief and hope, juggling experiences both personal and existential across themes such as loss, one’s individual purpose, and what it means to watch the notion of a stable life collapse before your eyes.
Crucially, Ashrita, Paul and Myron are not the same people that they were when they made their 2022 debut Love Me Forever. They’ve grown, matured and been altered by experience. They crafted their debut at a time where they didn’t have as much experience playing live as they do now. “The first album was influenced a lot by stuff we grew up listening to because we’d never really toured,” offers Myron.
