PREMIERE | Pregnant, "Big Red Rose"

The persistence of Pregnant; press photos courtesy of the artists.

There are a lot of reasons to be excited about 2021. There is hope on the horizon as well as here and now in the present, with the ubiquity and near-herd immunity of vaccinations and a world that is beginning to recalibrate, re-adjust and reckon with new ways forward. The restorative action is in place, while the metaphoric wheels of progress are slow and takes time. Though spirits are higher than they have been in 15 months to however many years now, the challenges forward remain. Our planet is still largely at a civic stalemate, social justice and systemic matters still need to be addressed, almost every sector of industry has to be practically built/rebuilt piecemeal, re-envisioning a utopian tomorrow can feel like a feverish pipe dream in the face of heart and soul crushing obstacles and unbelievable odds. With plenty of work to go around, the idiot optimist from within thinks we will eventually get to a higher, better and more abundant ground. 2021 offers an opportunity to contribute even more to the communities and societies we want to live in, 2021 offers a new air of excitement for what it might bring, 2021 delivers the deferred gifts waylaid by the pandemic, 2021 is giving us that new hope, 2021 is giving us new and old heroes, and 2021 is also giving us a new album from the mercurial cult pop entity — Pregnant.

One of the most obscure and enduring DIY outfits from the greater Sacramento area of the past decade; Pregnant at its core is the brainchild of Daniel Trudeau, joined by a cast of rotating musicians, luminaries and the like. With news of what we are told is their 14th album — Trudeau announces the album 100% Beef on cassette and digital available July 30 via Plastic Response and later on wax October 3 courtesy of Disorder Recordings / Possible Records with the debut for the video and single “Big Red Rose”. The illustrious instrumental evokes Greco mythological proportions that become imbued with modern day sounds that shine on the precipice of the present that lean over the edge into the futuristic folds of tomorrow’s sights and sounds.

The DIY visual for "Big Red Rose" revolves around's Daniel's mischievous kid Juniper interupting dad's deep readings of Foucault with a magical serum and embarking upon an enchanted and odd adventure of their own. Filmed by Lucio and featuring animation effects supplied by Kevin Zee; Juniper sets forth on an odyssey of magical realism where action and excitement exists around every corner and with every interaction. As Pregnant's Daniel find himself entrenched in the studious scholarship of histories of class struggles and the like, Juniper spikes pop's morning cup of joe, leaving Daniel with a blanket on his head affixed with a note that reads BRB. In time to the polyrhythms and kinetic chords of "Big Red Rose", Juniper applies make-up resembling the best character never to be dreamt up by Tim Burton, exhibiting superhero powers equipped with royal purple galoshes and a shoulder satchel as our Puck-like protagonist takes off to the street scenes of Sacramento. Skipping down the sidewalk to Pregnant's frenetic, psychic funk fusion — Juniper has an altercation with a stranger that becomes zapped by super-human powers as our youthful protagonist flaunts their magic and might with animated graffiti and marveling at the uncanny ability to make all opposition and adversaries disappear (or at least become entangled in a cocoon of creative illuminations). "Big Red Rose" is the perfect sun-saturated summer bop to embrace a new emergent world emanating with the potential of new energy and possibilities beyond our wildest collective imaginations.

Posing with Pregnant; press photo courtesy of the artists.

Pregnant’s Daniel Trudeau shared some reflections on the track and visual for “Big Red Rose” and some notes on the processes and inception for album 100% Beef:

The track “Big Red Rose” stemmed from a witchy guitar line originally intended for the basis of a freak folky lo-fi tape track. As I played the instrumental piece alone on guitar I got visuals of Greek philosophers committing heavily to cathartic and arduous tasks. I imagined a man designing a wooden helicopter with a lower body resembling a honey bee. In search of new ideas I imagined him setting out on foot into thick dark forests without food or water to seek (through stress of survival) new ideas for his patents.

I then imagined his soiled loin cloth pushing through a bramble of thorny bushes to find, unbeknownst to him, a large blooming red rose. And through finding such a gorgeous thing in the darkest of woods he would gain a renewal of spirit to continue with his invention.

I tried to convey that same spirit in the video by portraying my child Juniper taking his life in his own hands, mollifying his own father, reeking various types of chaos throughout town, and achieving illumination of some kind or other.

And in fact it sat rather nicely with the concept of the album.

Clowning about with Pregnant; press photo.

100% Beef is an album about our modern problematic nature as humans. We seem to have truly and fully taken in the concept of polarization and a deep necessity for identity. I view this new anomalous behavior as a burgeoning departure from our ways of the past towards a heightened spirituality and engagement with metaphysics the likes of which humanity has never seen before. Many of the songs tackle these items.

While the world seems very tedious and fabricated to me right now and like the name suggests, I have beef with it (a problem with it), I think it is on its way to opening a new realm of catharsis where we may be, very slowly, on to something. I’m just not quite sure what it is we’re on to.

Pregnant’s new album 100% Beef will be available on both cassette and digital July 30 via Plastic Response, on vinyl October 3rd courtesy of Disorder Recordings / Possible Records.