Lifeguard guitarist Kai Slater has been a busy busy, buzzy power-pop prince since breaking through with his solo project Sharp Pins two years ago and delivering another great in fast order with last year’s Balloon Balloon Balloon. It doesn’t look like the Chicago songwriter and Hallogallo scene leader plans to stop just yet either with his lo-fi punk take on the vintage radio FM waves — and he’s got a treasure trove of classic pop gems in his back pocket to keep it going, as the K Records’ imprint Perennial will be reissuing his 2023 sophomore offering, MOD MAYDAY 23, this September.

We’re also getting a whole new loosie single apart from it all with “Saturday Sun”. The low fidelity crackle and hiss remain an integral part of Slater’s recording formula here, but this goes well beyond the art of crafting a pristine hook, though that’s omnipresent just as well. That big gas ball up in the sky informs a more psychedelic pastiche across the fret board, with Slater ripping through daylight cosmos in groovier licks, a sizzling ascendent solo, and even a viola that absolutely melts into it all in order to lift this one into the sky properly. It certainly is calling your ears through a tune. With Sharp Pins in charge of the weather, the forecast is sounding great for the foreseeable future.

Directed by: Jolie M-A

Sharp Pins’ “Saturday Sun” single is available now on K Records / Perennial.