Article by: Annalee “Alee” Noel
The delivery of PIERCE’s PULSE EP on Wakaan serves as a testament to PIERCE’s undeniable artistic prowess, navigating diverse textures with ease and employing innovative sound design over the course of three contrastive tracks. PIERCE is an artist solidly on his come up with previous collabs: “Ain’t Scared (feat. Hashu)” with Riot Ten; “Wub It,” with LUZCID; and “Slam” with Champagne Drip respectively. But the PULSE EP is noteworthy for his new era of sound.
PIERCE shared: “This EP has a deeper meaning to me. It signifies a new chapter in my life; my ‘rebirth’ as an artist and my growth as a person. While creating these songs, I made sure to stay true to myself. I didn’t want the opinion of others altering my creative process and I wanted to rise above the negativity that was surrounding me.” PIERCE’s rebirth is evident in these amazing bass tracks and even his dive into fresh bass-trap.
PIERCE opens up the new EP with the title track “PULSE.” Full of bouncy, well-placed wubs, and classic bass sounds, an enchanting, haunting female vocal teasing, “can you feel my pulse?” starts the track. PIERCE has a well-balanced production style with plenty of thrilling ear candy. The build treats listeners to a driving kick, crazy little rising high arps, and a snappy riser that is heart-racing to say the least.
In the first drop announced with a tasteful siren, the male vocal calls in response, “feel the pulse, feel the feel the pulse” in classic, gritty bass style. Fans will absolutely love this track played live. The second drop builds off the first perfectly, using grittier wobbles and a distorted bass. PIERCE adds a drifting feeling to “PULSE” with bass elements, expanding in presence and style through chirps, as the solid anchor allowing listeners to fall deeper into his mind.
“BRAINDEAD,” the second track of the EP, starts off with a sick computerized vocal: “As you grow into your deeper self, there will be trials and tribulations from within, you can’t control others actions, but only yours. You must embrace the pain.” This tonal set-up of the track is perfectly in line with PIERCE’s rebirth as an artist. It’s an extremely strong setup that shows his character and is heard through the vocals telling us to “embrace the pain.”
Hearing “breathe in, breathe out” adds a meditative quality to the track, as the listener is soothed by the darkness of the bass, womps and wubs. The percussion in “BRAINDEAD” is top-notch with dancing rim-shots, variation of drum sounds, and morse-code-like hi hat blips. One cannot help but bob their head along to the entrancing beat PIERCE creates. Using distorted vinyl-scratches brings a fresh feeling to the track.
On the third song, “HIGHER (feat. Hashu),” Pierce treats listeners to a ground-breaking track with a snappy, fast-paced rap from Hashu, starting off with the fun pun: “You just got PIERCED!” Fills are stuffed with amazing percussion work, similar in tone to “PULSE” and “BRAINDEAD” making for a beautifully cohesive EP. It’s the best version of bass-trap I’ve ever heard, something completely new-feeling and delivered perfectly.
A traditional trap beat gets overtaken by high glitchy motifs and grounded with banging bass, as the first drop quickly builds into the second drop. Sliding glitch noises bounce off trills and video-game-like sounds, reminiscent of the complexity of Skrillex’s drops in “Bangarang (feat. Sirah).” Quite frankly, “HIGHER” is just as fresh in the new space for bass music. The first two drops will leave listeners absolutely breathless into the break screaming for more, and luckily there is. After a brief rap from Hashu entering the break, PIERCE builds it up to bring it home by bouncing into the third drop. PIERCE unleashes the bass with even more insane percussion. “HIGHER” has the potential to absolutely obliterate a crowd in a live set, and I really look forward to experiencing it!
This spring, PIERCE gears up for a noteworthy run of shows including Higher Ground in Texas on April 23, Freighthouse Square in Tacoma, WA with GAWM, and multiple international dates across Canada. He definitely has a bright future playing larger stages with festival bookings sure to follow for the summer. Keep up with him using the links below!
CONNECT with PIERCE:
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
LISTEN to PIERCE:
Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud | YouTube
