While much of modern music seems to prefer to blend genres, bands like The Racing Pulses prefer to stick to one style, and with rock releases like ‘Subtle Hurts’ we understand their reasoning.
We introduced readers to The Racing Pulses through their collaboration with young Wisconsin artist, Mane Thompson. Now we’re happy to share their own music. Founded in 2012 by singer-songwriter and frontman Kristian Petrov Iliev, The Racing Pulses have since become a staple of Madison, Wisconsin’s vibrant music scene. Their debut album, ‘Nothing to Write Home About’, released in 2017, earned popular and critical acclaim as it climbed the Billboard charts, and led the band to a tour in Bulgaria just a year later.
Iliev cites Arctic Monkeys as one of his main influences, but he also channels his own experiences into his sound, his Bulgarian roots also an inspiration. With hooks that linger and songs that are brimful with sincerity, The Racing Pulses are a creative force to be reckoned with.
New release, ‘Subtle Hurts’, created with the help of Grammy-nominated mastering engineer Brian Lucey (The Black Keys, Juanes, Lizzo), is a swaggering track with a quiet, spiteful venom. A fuzzed-out bassline, wailing metallic guitar riffs, and booming tom drums set the foundation for Iliev’s vocals, somehow tinged with despair. He doesn’t hold back as he sings of the pain these subtle hurts bring. He’s worn down, but still the person he is inside, who struggles every day to stay authentic, manages to fight off the creeping feelings of disillusionment. As he explains,
“I feel the weight, like many artists do, of expectation in the music industry and of the need to make money, to be entertaining, to fulfill the expectations that I have and that others have of me. The question is: How do we manage or cope with them?”
The music video for ‘Subtle Hurts’ opens in the very first shot with a striking abstract painting, the creation of local artist Chase Bisson. The clip, created in collaboration with Madison Wisconsin filmmaker, Claudia Krogmeier, brings an off-kilter atmosphere, entirely suitable for the subject matter. Iliev, wielding his striking Eastwood Moonsault guitar, performs with his bandmates, nonchalant and relaxed, not a care in the world. Suddenly, it all goes to hell in a handbasket, when they start stuffing forkfuls of cake into their faces, and from that instant, everything unravels into a mess of sickly sweet despair.
The band continues to play despite the unsettling nature of it all, and it becomes clear that The Racing Pulses are more than just performers, they are artists. As Iliev puts it, “As both an artist and an intellectual, I know and feel a duty to fight evil, educate others, and draw attention to the answers I believe could be most beneficial”. We couldn’t agree more.
Watch the magnificent video for ‘Subtle Hurts’ below, and find out more about The Racing Pulses and their music online on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
