stockdale - paper thin (Official Video)

In the two years since their last full-length release, Buddy (2020), a lot has changed for stockdale.

The pandemic years saw the group dealing with a constant flux in living quality, the end of romantic relationships, and the death of a loved group member. In February 2021, vocalist Nomé released his first solo effort, the album LOFTY, and in January of 2022, vocalist pilgrim released Remain Over Night, a collection of her 2021 singles with newly recorded additional tracks. In January of 2021, stockdale began writing as a group again, laying the groundwork for future material over the course of weekly sessions that went on late into the night. Early drafts of these songs would be tested at festival performances around Germany in the second half of the year.

paper thin is stockdale’s debut single with Haldern Pop Recordings. The track showcases the group’s talent for catchy pop melodies, blurring the line of what is and isn’t a hook over a backdrop of breakbeat drums, 808 bass and airy synth lines. The track is accompanied by a music video, directed by johdi and stockdale’s videographer Max Marcello.

Written and recorded at the group’s home studio The Castle and Blue Whale Recordings in Berlin, the track features production by stockdale’s johdi, with vocal performances by band members pilgrim, johdi, as well as frequent collaborator D’fish.

stockdale says about the track: “This song is about coming to terms with yourself and the experiences that shape you, the realisation that you’ve been defining yourself by a specific moment in your past, something so significant it pushes you out of reality and leaves you alone in a room full of people, too self-absorbed for social interaction, too fragile to let new moments in. The feeling of knowing you can’t change who you’ve become, but you’ll make the best of it for yourself and the people you love.”