Back in 2018, Pool Kids caught the attention of none other than Hayley Williams of Paramore, who praised the band after hearing their debut, Music to Practice Safe Sex To. “She … the whole band, was just like my idol,” gushes vocalist Christine Goodwyne. “And to get validation from them like that, it doesn’t feel real because it’s so amazing.” That early cosign helped widen the band’s audience, but it’s their work ethic and evolution that’s kept people listening.
Since their self-titled 2022 album, which earned critical praise for its lush, high-contrast mixture of pop, emo, and math rock, Pool Kids have only sharpened their identity. They’ve shared stages with artists like PUP, La Dispute, The Mountain Goats, and Beach Bunny, all while keeping their grassroots mindset intact.
On their upcoming album, Easier Said Than Done, out Aug 15 via Epitaph Records, the band spent five weeks recording in Seattle with producer Mike Vernon Davis, crashing with friends and staying in motels to save money. There were many DIY elements on this album, on one song, Goodwyne recalls: “I was set up with a mic right above my air mattress as soon as I woke up. I even forgot to take my retainers out, and you might be able to hear it (in the performance).”
Goodwyne describes the album’s writing process as equal parts catharsis and experimentation. “We did a lot of searching, playing each song a million different ways and deciding which one sounded the best,” she recalls— a reflection of the band’s willingness to deconstruct and rebuild until it felt right. Alongside Andy Anaya (guitar), Nicolette Alvarez (bass), and Caden Clinton (drums), the band leaned into their diverse influences, channeling inspiration from pop acts like Lady Gaga’s Chromatica and Charli XCX, as well as a wide swath of experimental rock.
The album’s closer, “Exit Plan,” is about the feelings of parting ways with tourmates, friends, and a chapter of your life after a tour and going back home to live a ‘normal’ life for a while. “When you have a specific lifestyle no one around you can relate to, there’s this sense of isolation,” Goodwyne explains. “It makes me feel like an alien, how no one knows about the middle ground of the music industry.” The song captures that exact bittersweet feeling of post-tour come-downs—when months of emotional highs and long drives suddenly end, and you’re left trying to reintegrate into a life that doesn’t understand what you’ve just been through.
Emotional rawness surfaces on “Leona Street,” which sounds like a 90’s alt rock song but with the band’s own signature in tack. Lyrically, this song reflects on a broken friendship and the sting of realizing old flaws still linger. It’s a quiet moment of self-recognition, and a reminder that healing rarely follows a straight line. “This was a person who really knew me, and was familiar with my futile cycles of trying to get better, ”she says. “I was thinking about how they would laugh if they saw me outside on a run, once again going through the motions of trying to get it together. It forced me to confront that I am still the flawed person this old friend would remember, the kind of person that let the friendship die in the first place.”
Looking ahead, Goodwyne talked about what she hoped both longtime fans and new listeners would get out of the new record: “I would encourage our existing fans to listen to the entire album because the songs we’re choosing as singles are going a different direction. But the mathy stuff is still there that our current fans will love.”
With Easier Said Than Done, Pool Kids prove once again that vulnerability, ambition, and relentless creativity are not mutually exclusive. It’s a record built on mutual trust and hard-won clarity, a reminder stitched into every layered note: you don’t have to do any of this alone.
Easier Said Than Done is out Friday, and you can preorder it here. Follow Pool Kids on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Discord for future updates.
Photo Credit: Alexa Viscius
