The Reds, Pinks And Purples – Acknowledge Kindness and interview with Glenn Donaldson: “now I guess I make simple pop music recorded at home”

The music realm needs single-minded souls of all descriptions. A particular sub-set features those summoning the perennial spirits of pop classicism, whilst operating in self-curated unconventional sonic bubbles.

Glenn Donaldson is one such a maverick within this broad grouping, whose San Francisco-based enterprise The Reds, Pinks And Purples wraps up his bleakly witty and lovelorn songs in arrangements drawing heavy inspiration from left-of-the-dial American, Anglo and Antipodean indie travellers of an ‘80s and ‘90s yore.

Formally activated in 2019, The Reds, Pinks And Purples studio canon already stretches imposingly across multiple albums and a slew of shorter-form releases that had primarily been reaching the outside world via Tough Love, Slumberland Records and self-released Bandcamp routes, until an upwards-signing shift to Fire Records in 2025.

Having marked the move and wooed some late-comers with last summer’s satisfyingly accessible round-up of stray digital-only singles, The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed, Donaldson has just delivered his first proper and less pacey full-length statement for the label with Acknowledge Kindness.

The album bears the hallmarks of Donaldson deescalating his rapid-dispatch methodologies in favour of a subtly more refined and atmospheric yet more open approach, whilst still retaining his core ingredient amalgamations.

The rich slow-burning results include pronounced nods to the balmiest quarters of The Cure’s œuvre (“Heaven Of Love” and “Houses”), the evocative shapeshifting of Maurice Deebank-era Felt (“Emo Band” and “Blue Heron Lake”), the wistful characteristics of The Go-Betweens’ mid-period (“Worthy Of Love”, “New Leaf” and “Where Did I Go Last Night?”), a foggy walk down the baroque side streets of The Smiths (“Doubt In Vain”) and Durutti Column-meets-Cocteau Twins transcendentalism (the wordless title track).

Lassoed to a keyboard to answer some questions over email for Freq, Donaldson shed some lateral light on his backstory, the guiding philosophies behind The Reds, Pinks And Purples, the construction of Acknowledge Kindness… and more besides.

For the benefit of latecomers, can you briefly account for your musical pre-history before establishing The Reds, Pinks And Purples?

I grew up in Southern California on local punk and new wave MTV. I started going to shows in the ‘college rock’ era, R.E.M. and Hüsker Dü were my favourite bands. I began making music in earnest in the late ’90s. I tried to invent wild new genres and put out many records out over the years on various labels, and now I guess I make simple pop music recorded at home.

What combination of factors led to starting up The Reds, Pinks And Purples and did you have a tacit manifesto of sorts? I’m thinking of the ‘same but different’ philosophy that you seem to operate under, from the way you approach making records to the colourful outdoor photography sleeve art.

I was very intentional about this project. I wanted to make pop music that could connect on an emotional level to as many people as possible, with my personality at the core. I felt I had experimented enough over the years and was wondering if I could make music that could be played on the radio. The source material would be life in San Francisco, fiction and non-fiction, but as honest as I could make it.

I was first recommended your work in an interview with Mick Derrick of Prolapse a few years ago, but I’ll confess to being a little intimidated, as a somewhat of a completionist, by the quantity of albums already released in quite a short space of time. As an avid music fan and collector yourself, is this is something that you can empathise with?

I get excited when I realise a band has a deep catalogue. It means they are serious! There are great one-album bands in history of course, but ideally a band I like would have at least ten albums, and I will buy them all. Record and CD collecting is my happy place.

Last year’s debut-on-Fire Records, The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed, finally flipped the switch for me to delve into your catalogue. As a round-up of previously dispensed digital-only tracks, do you think that the collection was an unexpectedly helpful Hatful Of Hollow-like inroad into what The Reds, Pinks And Purples world is all about?

It’s probably a good introduction, but you’d have to ask a fan which one is best. I never listen to them after they are pressed. I might be the only person that thinks the self-titled Smiths album is better than Hatful Of Hollow. I love that first LP.

Was it a significant step for you in moving over to Fire Records, after several prolific years on Slumberland in the US and Tough Love in the UK?

There was a little money involved which opened some doors for me as far as buying some new recording gear. I was happy with my other labels, but after releasing so many albums, I needed to try something new.

Does the deal mean that over time some of the back catalogue will migrate across too, given that a fair bit has gone out of print and is becoming quite collectible?

I think there is interest in that, but I am mostly focused on making new music while I still have songs burning in my brain.

Turning to the new album in hand, Acknowledge Kindness, did you have any objectives from the outset on the overall approach? For starters, production-wise it feels a little more open, with a greater number of piano-led tracks and less guitars.

I felt like doing something different, so I took my time with this one, trying to find some new sounds and textures. I would personally connect it with previous albums Summer At Land’s End and Still Clouds At Noon for being more on the dreamy side. One of San Francisco’s greatest bands was American Music Club. I was probably taking some inspiration from them, bringing out the torch song element in my style.

Did you still self-record most of the LP in your home set-up or were there some changes this respect?

I always record by myself with some guests coming in occasionally. Both Steven R Smith and Clay Ruby contributed to this album. My home recording gear is pretty close to what a pro studio might have. Any quirks or ‘lo-fi’-ness is just how I hear things. I record on hi-fi stuff.

Was it a challenge in itself to spent a lot longer cutting the album than with The Reds, Pinks And Purples previously?

It was. I was missing my instant pop songs. Sometimes I would write / record / release a song in a single day, and it would get on the radio the following morning! It was wild how people were following so closely what I was doing. That was really fun, but I wanted to see what would happen if I was more thoughtful about making an album. Some people will prefer the more throwaway pop style, and others will prefer this more lofty atmospheric work.

Have you historically had a daily routine and day job situation that has been conducive to the time / space capacity you have for writing and recording?

I have always had a shitty hourly wage job, starting at age fifteen! I [have] done every kind of thing from driving a forklift to delivering pizza to data entry. I quit working finally when I signed to Fire. I was [able] to cobble together enough money from here and there. I have less money overall, but more time. When the pandemic hit, I started to work from home and suddenly had more time to record. That’s really what kicked off my ‘pop’ era.

“Heaven Of Love” was a warm yet murky Cure-vibe. Is it correct to assume that Robert Smith is a long-running influence upon your vocals or have there been other stronger points of references?

I love The Cure. His lead guitar playing is the biggest influence. I don’t think my vocals sound like him, but maybe they do? I don’t hear it. Grant McLennan is probably a bigger influence vocally. Richard Butler from The Psychedelic Furs, R.E.M. and The Smiths massively too, but I honestly don’t try to sound like anyone. My voice is limited, and I can only do what I do.

Who or what has informed how your approach to lyric-writing?

Belle And Sebastian had that great line, “No one writes ‘em like they used to, so it may as well be me.” I took this to heart. The type of songs Lana Del Rey makes, I love that type of vivid storytelling that seems to be pulled from her personal life, even the most awkward parts. Leonard Cohen did this so well. He is the master poet of embarrassing thoughts.

“Emo Band” appears to almost to be a wry self-reaction to “The World Doesn’t Need Another Band” from The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed. Is it that too simple a connection to make?

“Emo Band” was written for some guys in famous emo bands that told me they were fans of The Reds, Pinks And Purples. It is sincere on that level, but it’s also possibly admitting that I might be emo, which I realise is kind of funny. I honestly love the first wave of emo-core (as it was called), Rites Of Spring’s All Through A Life EP is a big one for me.

“New Leaf” is a definite highlight for me – what drove you there?

I started playing more nylon string guitar on this album, doing my crude fingerpicking, trying for a more stark atmosphere I guess. The lyrics to that one are from an old notebook, I just changed a few lines, and it gave me a new direction for this record.

“Worthy Of Love” feels like it owes a debt to late-’80s Go-Betweens – is it fair to say that they are an inspiration here and across Acknowledge Kindness?

Probably, yes. 16 Lover’s Lane is a top five record for me. I want to make something that good someday. I saw them in their reunion era twice, and I soaked up every second. Another Australian record I love and was probably thinking about too is Crime And The City Solution’s Shine.

“Blue Heron Lake” and the title track unfurl as languid instrumentals that feel like a welcome hold-overs from Mountain Lake Park. What went into mindset for those two?

I love making instrumentals, and they add a little breathing room. They make an album feel like a complete concept, like a little movie.

Do you feel that there is broad mission through The Reds, Pinks And Purples to revisit and channel certain hidden corners of US, UK and Australian band sounds from the ’80s and ’90s?

That’s the kind of music I like and came up on. I want that lofty, dreamy sound, big feelings, layered acoustic guitars, big skies. I also have my ear on contemporary music too. I don’t consciously try to be retro. My recording method for instance is extremely up to date.

Has writing about music on Substack and elsewhere given a distinctive insight into both sides of the creating and critiquing equation?

I have been a music journalist off and on since the late ’90s (in print and online), so I am just keeping my writing chops up and forcing myself to engage with new bands. It’s a fun distraction from obsessing on The Reds, Pinks And Purples. I love celebrating new artists.

As someone who is enviably in walking distance of a San Francisco branch of Amoeba Records, according to a recent podcast interview, is it still the mecca I once visited over twenty years ago and how do you keep away from bankruptcy?!

It is indeed a pleasure. I usually pop in once a month or so. This would be paradise really, if rent wasn’t so expensive! I restrict myself mostly to bargain bin purchases, but I find a lot of amazing stuff.

What else how you got lined-up in the wake of releasing of Acknowledge Kindness? Is some touring on the cards?

I got together with some booking agents recently, so I should have some shows to announce soon.

As someone never seemingly short of an interesting recommendation or two – what old or new releases are currently on repeat from your listening pile?

I tend to gravitate towards stuff people aren’t really checking out. Here are three old albums that won’t cost you much at all:

1. St Johnny – Speed Is Dreaming
2. American Music Club – Everclear
3. Three Mile Pilot – The Chief Assassin to the Sinister

Current artists to check out:

Vulture Feather, Nowhere Flower, Ekin Fil…

-Adrian-