New Audio: Pink Skies Returns with a Mid-Tempo Quiet Storm-Like Single

Earlier this year, I wrote about Pink Skies, the solo recording project of Arieh Berl, an  Oakland, CA-born and raised singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, and as you may recall, Berl has a lengthy history playing in a number of Bay Area-based indie rock and punk bands. While in one of those bands, it became clear to the Oakland-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer that the material he had been writing was meant for a completely different project, as the songs drew from psych rock, pop, R&B, 70s AM rock and chillwave in what Berl described in press notes, as “Escapism Pop.” Interestingly, Berl didn’t intend on releasing those initial home recordings — recorded during stints living in Oakland, Boston and Los Angeles — but, as the story goes he was encouraged to release them, after attending a creative retreat near Berkeley.

Last year was something of a breakthrough year for the Oakland-based artist: he released his first Pink Skies single “Start.End,” played guitar on BOSCO‘s b and released a re-interpreation of 6LACK‘s “Gettin’ Old.” Berl also signed to Huh What & Where Recordings, the label home of KAYTRANADA, Fwdslxsh, Pomo and others; however, Berl has spent the past year building upon a growing direction — first with the Tame Impala-like “Just To Get By,” a song that he wrote while he was living in the Silver Lake section of Los Angeles, and feeling lost and alone. Bert’s latest Pink Skies single, the mid-tempo and hook-driven “Portland” reveals a subtle expansion upon his sound but without seemingly like a wild departure — while still sounding like it were influenced by Tame Impala, there’s a hint of Quiet Storm-era R&B and synth funk that manages to be familiar as it’s a winning and beloved formula after all; but with a contemporary take.