New York indie rockers Pom Pom Squad has been on a steady incline since last hearing the band’s Ow self-release. Like many bands, they were stalled in 2020 for obvious reasoning, although that didn’t stop them from releasing its cover of “Crimson & Clover,” originally written by Tommy James & The Shondells but made famous by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. And of course, there was December’s cheeky punked-up “Hello Santa Claus.”

The Pom Pom Squad drops its new”Lux,” the first new song of 2021 and their debut release after their recent signing to City Slang Records. The song is accompanied by its video treatment.

It’s a razor-sharp bite of cathartic punk, that the Brooklyn four-piece’s powerhouse frontperson Mia Berrin initially wrote at seventeen while in the traumatic throes of her adolescent feminine awakening while realizing the ever-present gaze of the male patriarchy. With its namesake coming from the character in The Virgin Suicides (one of her favorite movies), the song is achingly vulnerable while delivering its message like a thrashing sonic sucker-punch. It also was the song that ultimately led to Berrin following the voice in her head telling her to pursue music.

“It’s about the fear of intimacy I felt as a teen that stemmed from negative early experiences of male attention,” she said. “The Virgin Suicides, one of my very favorite movies, captured that fear in a way that deeply resonated – the scene where Trip leaves Lux alone on the football field. He had gone through the effort of making her love him and then, when he got what he wanted, he left. I released the demo for this song on Bandcamp when I was in college and it ended up being played on Brooklyn Vegan’s blog radio on Sirius XMU. It was the first lightbulb that maybe I had a calling in music. The release has been a long time coming, but ultimately, I’m glad I waited so that I could really do right by this thing and simultaneously, by my teenage self.”

Julia Sub, who co-directed the video with Berrin added “Working on Lux was therapeutic for many reasons during the Covid-19 pandemic. Channeling my pent up energy and creativity into something collaborative, after a global lock-down, was so important to me during this time. The themes of our music video, I think, speak directly to an emotional state the world can currently and very easily identify with. Lux touches on the ideas of isolation, confusion and a yearning to escape. This project really challenged all those involved to push our creativity to new limits, overcome unbelievable obstacles and reminded us how uplifting collaboration is for the spirit.”