Exclusive Premiere: Pacifist Get Emo on New Single ‘The Bridge Between Us’

Mumbai post-hardcore band Pacifist narrate an angsty, emo-leaning story of broken hearts on their latest song “The Bridge Between Us.” Their first release since the pair of singles “Resolve” and “Against The Tide” in 2021, “The Bridge Between Us” comes with a visual shot by Eeshani Mitra, featuring collage art by Kanika Agarwal and edited by Rana Ghose (who provides additional footage) along with graphic design by Vineet Sharma.

While it’s a whole new topic – and one about matters of the heart that are all too familiar in music – Pacifist add their own perspective to it by turning to emo, influenced by bands like Touche Amore, Title Fight, Thursday and more. Where their debut EP Greyscale Dreams was about (barely) surviving urban existence, “The Bridge Between Us” still concerns itself with present-day circumstances of separation and unfulfillment in the midst of ambition, among other things. The hook that closes the song goes, “Betrayed! By matters so complicated.”

They’ll be seen next at punk gig Degenerate Disco on September 20th at antiSOCIAL, Mumbai alongside The Riot Peddlers (who released their own EP, High Horse last month) and pop-punk act The Lightyears Explode. Pacifist’s vocalist Sidharth Raveendran and guitarist-producer Apurv Agarwal spoke with Rolling Stone India about the new song, their next EP and more. Excerpts:

How do you feel after that Bengaluru show at Stress//Test 3? People were chanting your name.

Sidharth Raveendran: Quite the thrill – this was one of the best crowds we’ve played to by far. We’re stoked that it happened and just surprised to see so many new faces in the crowd. Always appreciated the Bangalore crowd, they really know their music.

Compared to when you started – not fully knowing whether there would be an audience for the kind of music you played – how do you see things now, knowing there are fans being made a few years on? 

Raveendran: I knew I wanted to play some form of hardcore, and I felt the same tired sounds in the scene would get old soon, but I don’t think we set out estimating any form of audience for the music we were about to write, or vice versa. Since the sound was rooted in the Nineties, it wouldn’t seem too unfamiliar for listeners, so switching over is easy.

I mean, how many degrees of separation exist between Helmet, Quicksand, Snapcase, Vision of Disorder and early Korn or Deftones? Or Earth Crisis & Pantera for example? These sounds all co-existed as a product of its time – youth crew hardcore was just a few steps away from thrash metal, you hear Zack de la Rocha style vocal barks all the time in hardcore. It’s not alien or disconnected to the average Nineties metal listener, it always existed. Hardcore just needs a familiar reference point, it just hasn’t existed in India as prominently as other heavy subcultures have.

Apurv Agarwal: Yeah absolutely. When we started out we had no idea if there was an audience for our music. Seeing it grow like it has, has been really great! There’s always new faces at our shows and that’s such a great feeling. 

To be honest, we’ve really prioritized that aspect of building a community by focusing on playing with bands that share a similar sensibility both in their approach to music but also in the way they engage with their audience. Our most memorable shows have been ones we’ve organized with our favorite bands, usually at the most unlikely venues. And for us, that’s what it’s all about! 

It’s been about two years since the release of “Resolve” and “Against the Tide.” What kind of changes – personal and otherwise – have informed what’s coming up now from Pacifist? 

Raveendran: I don’t think we’re a ‘young new angry band’ anymore, there’s a certain coming of age that’s unlocking more shades in our brand of music. There’s a larger pool of not-so-apparent influences we draw from as well musically, so that’s gonna show a lot more going forward.

Agarwal: It’s been more of a progression for all of us both personally and musically more than change. We feel more free when making new music and that will definitely show in our future releases. 

What can you tell me about “The Bridge Between Us” and when it was written? It comes across as a balance between you guys writing emo but post-hardcore sort of music. 

Raveendran: I guess it just was bound to happen at some point – Apurv’s got great chops when it comes to writing emotionally stirring lead lines and melodies (like he did in that ‘Against The Tide’ outro).

Emo and indie-influenced hardcore has also been our favorite kind of post-hardcore. For me, it was just capturing the mood & emotion of the song in the best way possible.

I think I’ve always been an emotional person – writing angry music is in fact quite emotional to begin with. This is not too different – it’s just got a lot more room for vulnerability and dynamics in terms of expression. It’s really amazing that we get to do this whole range of music, quite honestly.

Agarwal: I think it’s the most unlikely Pacifist song we’ve put out so far, but also one of the songs we’re all closest to in some way or another. It’s a side of us that hasn’t been on record yet but is very close to us nonetheless. It’s also a pretty distinct sound in itself and we figured it should just exist as a single.

Additionally, what can you tell me about the EP that’s coming up, in terms of the number of songs that have made it and what stage it’s at right now? How long has it been in the works? 

Agarwal: The EP is five songs, most of which were written during the pandemic. We’re quite far in the recording process already which has been really great for us this time around. Over the years we’ve really finetuned our songwriting and sound but then ultimately threw all of that out the window to make this EP [laughs].

Raveendran: I think the biggest thing about them is that they’re very distinct songs with a lot of individuality – none sound alike. Five ways to look at things, five sounds and styles.

It feels like artists in India playing heavy music have also begun to take music videos just as seriously in recent times — like we saw with Dirge’s video for “Hollow.” I know Pacifist have technically had MVs out before, but might we see something more with this EP? 

Raveedran: There’s definitely the desire to do more of that. We’ve managed so far with DIY style shot and edited material, repurposed edits of existing footage and content. ‘The Bridge Between Us’ has something that draws from the same approach – we started out with a simple collage artwork (by collage artist Kanika Agarwal) that corresponds to the analog paint, water and flowers imagery that you see in the footage (shot by Eeshani Mitra) and edited by Rana Ghose of Reproduce Artists.

We’re trying to do our best as an unsigned, independent act with limited resources, the goodwill and help we receive from our fellow artists and collaborators, and hope to put out something of substance that we’re all collectively proud of.

What else is coming up through 2023, in terms of performances?

Raveendran: We definitely want to tour again. We did four short tours between 2019-21, and we haven’t gone back to doing that in a while. We know people are keen to catch us again – I guess it’s time to pack our suitcases and hit the road soon.

Buy/stream the song here.