Sharp Pins - Balloon Balloon Balloon (2025) Hi-Res

Seattle-based indie pop artist Sharp Pins has released a new 21-track album, "Balloon Balloon Balloon," via K Records/perennialdeath.

Celebrated musician Robyn Hitchcock praised the album, saying, "Sharp Pins delivers a sound that resonates with you. It's like acupuncture for the soul. They inject a dose of 1965 energy into today's jaded times. Or a ray of light in the sky. Simply put, they're amazing."

Sharp Pins, aka Kai Slater, tuned into the "youth underground" to deliver this album. Their music awakens deeply buried memories, as if reinventing a past that never existed. "Balloon Balloon Balloon" is a "pop art"-like album that reminds us that our bodies are meant to dance.

Writer Johnson Rockstar (Otis Johnson) declares this album to be "what's next," driven by a responsibility to show young people they shouldn't run from love. Just as radio waves carry secret messages, prayers, and swollen tears, Sharp Pins' songs act as a mirror, reflecting our hearts.

"Open your heart and let in the sounds of young people with newfound love and oversized dreams. Wipe away your tears and remember that dancing is rebellion. And today is the time," Johnson Rockstar urges.

After the excellent Radio DDR, re-released in an extended version with three additional tracks at the beginning of 2025, Kai Slater closes out the year with a record that's still steeped in the colourful and bouncy lo-fi pop of the '60s. Following in the footsteps of The Lemon Twigs, his slightly older peers from New York City, the prolific Chicagoan is entering his twenties with an intense creative energy. He's already the guitarist for Lifeguard, the creator of the fanzine Hallogallo (which documents Chicago's bustling underground art scene), and a passionate devotee of mods and '70s punk.

No less than 21 pieces make up Balloon Balloon Balloon—though some are barely a minute long. Written between January and May, the songs were recorded partly at home in Chicago and partly in Washington with producer Hayes Waring in a small studio. One thing is certain: you can hear it. The album is raw and electric—this lo-fi collection of power-pop miniatures pulls us into the excited, romantic youth of an author in the middle of an epiphany. Still going strong with the wah-wah ("Popafangout"), veering into Beatles-esque territory ("I Don't Have the Heart"), and diving into hypnotic, psychedelic pop ("(In a While) You’ll Be Mine"), Slater dreams of love (the misty "Queen of Globes and Mirrors") and slips into melancholy in the voice-and-guitar ballad "Maria Don't." The record is proof that fresh, incisive songwriting doesn’t need polish or big resources to produce small miracles.