Pixel grip is resolute yet variable. The Chicago-based trio takes inspiration from the dimly-lit stages they dominate and the deepest realms of the human experience.

Over the last four years, the band has traversed the depths of the North American underground scene, selling out clubs and winning over fans with their indelible live performances.

The group’s sophomore album ‘ARENA’ was a 10 track exploring avant pop, EBM, and minimal wave [May 21, 2021] released via Feeltrip Records. The album’s pounding dance rhythms were inspired by the group’s shows supporting their 2019 debut Heavy Handed: “being in an audience of freaks, queers, fetish people, all in the same room sweating together, and we all knew our purpose, and we were manic and arrogant,” vocalist Rita Lukea says.

Lukea and bandmates Jonathan Freund and Tyler Ommen used crowded clubs as inspiration for refining ARENA during the pandemic that cut off safe socializing. The group conceived of nightlife as a respite from the titular arena, the combative conditions of everyday life.  “My head is also an arena,” Lukea says. “Swinging from mania to depression, struggling with my body image and eating disorders, addiction, anxiety, and gender confusion. When you are different, you don’t have a seat at anyone’s table. The ARENA album is me saying fuck your table.” 

Pixel Grip’s songs confront wealth disparity, mental illness, and gun violence alike with over-stimulated confidence, audible in the relentless beats, Lukea’s vocals, and the purrs of guest vocalist and trans icon MONĀE on “Demon Chaser”. “Don’t play this album in your car unless you’re ready to get into a car accident,” Ommen jokes.

The palpable tension throughout the album culminates in the gentle release of closer “Double Vision,” written while Lukea was feeling sophisticated dressed in loafers and a silk shirt. If the bulk of ARENA takes place in the post-apocalyptic nightclub of your dreams, “Double Vision” is the sound of leaving the city and losing yourself in the blinding light of the desert - until night falls and you feel the urge to return to a dark club. ARENA is meant to be screamed along with at maximum volume, in anticipation of the day Pixel Grip can overpower a crowd full of freaks all over again.

Written by Jack Riedy