PUEBLO NIGHTS
Pueblo Nights is the first single from Berkley’s full-length debut album Pueblo. Backed by members of Austin band Watering, Pueblo Nights explores themes of memory, youth, and growth in Berkley’s hometown of Pueblo, Colorado.
Set at a tempo best for nighttime drives, Pueblo Nights recalls being in young dumb love in a small city’s punk rock and heavy metal music scene. Berkley sets the tone using the everyday poetics of Hal David with a modern spin: Pueblo nights/everything’s alright/I don’t wanna fight/or place the blame.
The slightly out of tune piano that anchors the song has a Pueblo story of its own. The instrument originated from the song’s namesake city and, by serendipity, was delivered by another Pueblo native to Berkley’s north Texas studio. The artist didn’t want to change anything about the state of the piano until the full album was recorded. The result: a timbre to match the VHS slasher flick synthesizers calling out throughout the song.
With one foot in Then and the other in Now, Pueblo Nights fits neatly beside Mirage-era Fleetwood Mac and modern closed-door crooners like Pete Yorn or Phoebe Bridgers.
In Pueblo Nights, Berkley relays a youthful anxiety any past, present, or future teen could relate to: I walked you to your car but don’t/wanna see you go/we’re making out against your door/I wish I brought a coat. But Berkley reckons with each memory with an adult’s perspective, crafting pop hooks and space cowboy riffs along the way: Would it feel the same/if we never met until today/would we still say all those awful things?
Making sense of what remains of youth in adulthood – opportunity, regret, and empathy – is where Berkley stakes his claim among North Texas songwriters.
Digital Single and Limited Edition 7”
Video
Photography: Juli Williams