PCH offers a homesick antidote with memories of “star-filled nights” and windblown road trips with “heads out of the window.”
Aurora Sage has released her latest single PCH, taking listeners on a sun-drenched nostalgia trip through soft acoustic pop.
Opening with tender vocal delivery à la Odette, the single pairs twangy, almost-country guitar strings with atmospheric synths, immediately situating us in a blissful bygone time.
While Sage is most at home in the track’s rustic pop tendencies, as is blaring from the speakers of an afternoon backyard session, there’s still a dazzling array of indie rock flairs, from punchy drum rolls to grit of finger picked guitars. The result is a soundscape that brims with shimmery wistfulness, the perfect accompaniment for Sage’s lyrical storytelling.
Here, PCH recounts the coming-of-age tales of her hometown in California — home to the titular freeway — recalling everything from sneaking out to couch-surfing and “counting dreams.” Sage adds depth to an otherwise-blissful tune with reflections on the passage of time, and sun-tinged memories of “star-filled nights” and windblown road trips with “heads out of the window.”
Pop music is all too often simplified for the sake of mainstream appeal, but Sage pairs the genre with deeper ruminations on growing up, and the bittersweet moments that come with adulthood.
Through it all, it’s Sage’s vocals that glisten the brightest, flitting between the powerhouse belting of the bridge to the gentleness required of lines tinged with melancholy.
“I started writing PCH when I was really missing home,” Sage, who has since relocated to Nashville, said in a press statement.
“I would reminisce on old photos and videos of sneaking out of my house to go night swimming or on a long drive with my best friend… [this song] reminds me that I will always have those memories of home.”
PCH follows debut single Habit and Merry Go Round as the second track released by Sage this year. Listen to the new release in all it’s sentimental glory below, and head here to find Aurora Sage on Spotify.
