Achingly Honest Self Realization becomes Vulnerably Confidence on Pom Pom Squad’s latest LP
Words by Matt Keenan
Have you ever wondered about your place in the world? Where do you fit in amongst all of this, there’s so much happening to and around you that you can’t help but wonder, who really are you?
Mirror Starts Moving Without Me, the latest album from Brooklyn’s Mia Berrin and post grunge outfit Pom Pom Squad is an achingly honest and vulnerable look in the mirror intent on making the listener ask themself the same question, one Mia Berrin is all too familiar with. The new record excels at bridging the gritty snarl of the band’s rock roots with the dark pop that you can hear from start to finish masterfully laced in with serenade like ballads.
The inspiration for the albums title is something that emphatically stuck out to me, as someone who relates to looking at yourself reflected and not understanding who you are or feeling confident in any way it can feel uncanny to look back on your life and see it reflected. Frontperson Mia Berrin elaborates on the significance of the album’s title by reflecting the same sentiment “the album title is inspired by a horror movie trope and relates to the uncanny feeling of seeing yourself reflected — both literally and figuratively. It was my most challenging creative experience to date and a true labor of love.”
Something I grew to love since listening to 2021’s Death of a Cheerleader, was this shift from more of a grunge based sound to a punchy, purposeful almost pop offering. Pom Pom Squad has a way of changing themselves instrumentally and sonically, whilst continuing to utilize cleverly strung together songwriting hooks to keep you listening. Even if it may not necessarily be a sound you’d have listened to before, you can’t help but love it this time around.
Photo Credit: Bao Ngo
From the opening track, the notion of “going down f*cking hill” is something that just exudes a sense of almost self destructive ambition, and emotional hunger for a situation which is getting either better or worse. The cleverly packed lyricism continues throughout the record with another one of my favorite parts being the chorus of “Villain”, in which Berrin writes:
“Run out of luck? What a shame!
You're always jumping my train
Honey, I heard that you hate me
You should see what I'm like when I'm angry
Yeah, I'm the villain
Got my target in sight and I'm willing
Hungry for blood and I'm venomous
Fuck around and find out who the villain is”
The chorus of the track to me continues the sense of almost agonizingly self destructive ambition, almost angrily searching for your place in the world and showing an undeniable desire to show yourself who you are. Perhaps in a way, this could wrap up the themes of the record where Berrin begins questioning a sense of self, and closes it with an almost vulnerably confident autonomy.
You can check out Pom Pom Squad’s newest record Mirror Starts Moving Without Me, below as well as wherever you find your music now.
