Still Ruins "Our Penance"

BUNDLE BOTH STILL RUINS CD'S FOR $20 — USE CODE "JESTER" AT CHECKOUT Oakland’s Still Ruins return with Our Penance, a maxi CD single that distills the trio’s knack for lush melancholia into a widescreen sophistipop reverie. Frankie Soto, Jose Medina, and Cyrus VandenBerghe channel the crystalline textures of China Crisis, Aztec Camera, and The Blue Nile while maintaining their own distinct gravity—romantic, shimmering, and quietly devastating. The track is both an expansion of the band’s sonic palette and a reminder of their gift for crafting music that feels familiar and startlingly fresh in equal measure. Accompanying the single are four remixes that stretch Our Penance across different worlds of underground sound. Philadelphia’s They Are Gutting a Body of Water warp the song into a gauzy, experimental shoegaze haze, while Normal Bias drags it to the dancefloor with an EBM pulse that hits as hard as it hypnotizes. Blood Rave reimagines the track through a brooding darkwave lens, turning longing into menace, and Foliage leans into dream-pop atmospherics, layering breathy textures over soft focus rhythms. Each version feels like a parallel universe take on Still Ruins’ emotional core, expanding the single’s reach while underscoring its timelessness. Our Penance affirms Still Ruins as one of the most compelling bands operating at the intersection of nostalgia and futurism. By embracing the maxi single format—a medium that defined an earlier era of pop experimentation—they’ve built a release that celebrates reinvention while paying homage to the past. With each listen, Our Penance opens new doors: to the club, to memory, to a dream you didn’t know you’d had.