“I DON’T WANNA DO THIS ANYMORE” by Pvris, Friday, July 28, 2023

Earlier this month Pvris released their anticipated fourth record, Evergreen. Starting with their 2019 release of the EP  Hallucinations, Pvris began a departure from hard rock into Alternative dark pop. This departure was partly due to producer JT Daly encouraging the band to experiment with pop hooks. The band's 2020 release Use Me was an even greater realization of the vision set forth on Hallucinations; none of the songs were straight rock songs with perhaps the exception of "Dead Weight." 

PRAY FOR BETTER TIMES. Between Evergreen and Use Me, Pvris shifted from being a band to a one-woman moniker, or as cleverly stated in the song "GODDESS," not a woman or a man but a "motherfucking brand," with only Lynn Gunn remaining on the band's roster. Over the years, band members dropped off, with guitarist Alex Babinsky forced out after allegations of sexual misconduct just prior to the release of Use Me. As of earlier this year, bassist Brian MacDonald is no longer a full-time member but only tours with the band. Sonically, Pvris's fourth record goes further into pop territory, though it's a noisy form of pop. Songs like the aforementioned "GODDESS"sound like what would happen if P!nk covered Britney Spears' "Toxic." Evergreen evolved from its predecessor in darkness and attitude. The lyrics throw a bit more profanity into the mix. The overall ascetic of the album is harsher too. Let's start with the obvious: the cover featuring Lynn Gunn's head held by a tattooed, muscular arm. While the album is titled Evergreen, there is nothing green on the album. In fact, it feels more like the dead of winter than the lush July in which the album was released. The only thing that makes the album cover less grotesque is Gunn's facial expression, which feels unintentionally comical to me, reminding me of metal album covers that try so hard they end up looking camp. 

I SHOULDA KNOWN THAT IT'S JUST A WASTE TO WAIT ON REDEMPTION.  More superficially, I have a hard time with titled in all caps. In Internet speak, it means shouting, and it feels like Evergreen is shouting for our attention even though Pvris's cultural impact is still relatively low. One other thing to note with Evergreen is that Lynn Gunn seems to be taking on a bigger role as producer. Compared to Use Me, Evergreen feels to lack the cohesion of the former record. That's probably because of the multiple producers brought on. JT Daly serves as a producer and songwriter on 4 of the album's 11 tracks compared to all of the tracks on Use Me. With Daly's absence, we get Doja Cat producer Y2K on two tracks including today's song "I DON'T WANNA DO THIS ANYMORE." We even get a track produced and co-written by Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda. But what we get from Evergreen is to see a musical direction crafted by Lynn Gunn who c0-produces 6 of the 11 tracks. Lyrically, "I DON'T WANNA DO THIS ANYMORE" sets up the album's themes of the speaker's exhaustion working in a post-pandemic music industry. Gunn rails against patriarchy, especially in her field of rock music. Gunn also posted on Instagram that the song was inspired by: "Social media content, attention economy, instant gratification, capitalism, the hamster wheel that we’ve created, burnout, fear for the planet and us as people if we don’t course correct our behavior and priorities." It's been three years since Use Me and with the exception of several non-album singles and collaborations, it seems that burnout is a big factor in Pvris's absence. I just hope that Gunn will continue to take inspiration around her and that album four won't be the end of Pvris.

 

Read “I DON’T WANNA DO THIS ANYMORE” by PVRIS on Genius.