One of the more fun creatives swerves that rarely fails to get a rise is when an artist whose main band is pretty known does something opposite to what you’d normally expect them to on the side, with just as much solid satisfaction. Kai Slater knows how to do this with all sides of his guitar. As part of the great, youthfully noisy rock trio, Lifeguard, he and his ‘mates are bringing punk fervor back through the walls of DIY indie rock spaces, but on his own accord as Sharp Pins, he’s achieving his own version of power-pop perfection with “I Can’t Stop”, the lead single from the bonus material-enhanced deluxe reissue of his 2024 sophomore outing, Radio DDR, due out this spring through K Records’ Perennial imprint. While we’ve heard power-pop appropriation work wonders for Fucked Up guitarist Ben Cook and his Young Guv project as well as bands more recently like 2nd Grade and Hurry in putting beaming sunshine at the forefront of their songs, Slater’s Sharp Pins’ merges hook-filled ’60s melancholia with the ’90s lost lo-fi indie rock wonders into one longing sensation. “When I think of you, don’t forget it / I don’t want to get older,” he sings, as if he, too, is locked in it.

Directed by: Kai Slater

Sharp Pins’ Radio DDR will be released March 21st on K Records / Perennial.