PREMIERE | Still Ruins, "Perfect Blue"
The council of the Bay Area’s premiere league of legendary pop music luminaries — Still Ruins; press photos courtesy of Elygoat.
As forecasted at the beginning of this year, Oakland’s elusive apostles of the ethereal order — Still Ruins —present their first single from their anticipated debut EP aptly titled, “Perfect Blue”. The Oakland trio of pop polymaths Frankie Soto, Jose Medina and Cyrus VandenBerghe deliver a colossal collaboration of visions (not to mentions major vibes). Frankie orchestrates eco-pop operas stitched from the passions of the heart with the romantic presence of a balladeer from another time. Jose delivers an alchemy of artistic sensibilities that synthesizes eras together into a codified melding of a unified sound, tone and texture. Cyrus arranges the instrumentations of electronic, acoustic, analog, digital and the abstract into something that is immediately accessible to the senses. The group’s debut is dedicated to venturing into the cosmic threshold of the immortal and the exquisite. Still Ruins find a way to slip through the edges of existence and into a place of unfettered feeling and the atmospheric river of wanting and wishing. Each harmonic note echoes a beguiling melody. Evokes a memory. Projections of longing. Surveying our shared globe in search of the places where the infinite and unknown intersect the reaches of earth and the vast extents of space.
“Perfect Blue” rides electric currents into the reflective waters of grief, describing the profound sense of a memoriam of a loved one that lives on in perpetuity. Working in collaboration with Chris King of Moon Palace Productions, further guitar work from fellow Surf Club alum Marcos Gonzalez and mastered by Jack Shirley; Still Ruins offers earnest exhibitions of emotion that are angled and adapted into the ambitious pursuit of the perfect sound. The material world of irrelevant things and scattered stuff dissolves into the lush chimes of the illustrious chords and crooning vocals. “Perfect” exemplifies the ideals of perfection in an imperfect world. A push toward fairness and beauty in a reality that is unfair and often gets outright ugly.
The serenity of “Blue” is furthered conveyed in the video from Eli Wengrin that borrows heavily from new romantic heroes, adult contemporary zeroes, city pop sweethearts, Balearic sea-breathers, sophisticated appreciation societies and independent creative outliers of the cable access aesthetic. With meticulously stylized sounds and visuals, Still Ruins mix vulnerability and volition in equal measure. “Perfect Blue” exudes ambitions, maudlin models of art and a creative spirit informed by emotions in the key of the sublime, sensational and psychically supernatural.
Frankie Soto of Still Ruins shared some thoughts and heart on the new single:
The new suave style council — Still Ruins; press photo courtesy of Elygoat.
"Perfect Blue" was written in 2018 and is about a family member who passed away.
Single art for “Perfect Blue”; courtesy of Lia Kantrowitz.
Sometimes you can still feel their presence and you never want them to leave.
Still Ruins’ self-titled debut EP will be available January 12 via Oakland DIY/punk imprint Smoking Room for the vinyl pressing and on cassette through Cercle Social Records (Chicago label operated by Tobias Grave from Soft Kill).
Cover art for Still Ruins’ self-titled EP by Lia Kantrowitz.