How Bruise Pristine Transformed Their Live Songs Into An EP

Self-appointed "moody grungy" rockers Bruise Pristine have been steadily teasing their upcoming Not Like You EP (due out in August), and despite only consisting of a few songs, their debut tackles some intense yet necessary topics.

"The songs on this EP explore themes of mental illness, addictive behaviour and battered relationships," vocalist/guitarist Kate Olivia explains. "We selected three songs that we felt give a good indication of our sound and philosophy, which is very much a cynical dissection of human behaviour, and the isolation felt by minorities."

For those who have previously seen Bruise Pristine live, they won't be strangers to the songs featured on their EP - 20mg, Not Like You and The Pull - however, as Olivia discusses, there was more room to experiment with the recorded versions. "In the studio, we had the luxury of layering some beefy guitars and chucking in some piano and percussion", adding that "we really wanted to harness the energy and atmosphere of how we perform these songs live, and still retain some grittiness.

"The recording exceeded all expectations and we believe the result is something quite special."

The journey from initially writing the songs to recording them had a prominent influence over the final outcome, as Olivia recalls "I had just come back from a trip to the UK when we headed into the studio, so my mind was still in the gloomy (but beautiful) Welsh landscape.

"It was also just after Trump got elected so I feel as though that probably added some rebellious energy."