The Reds, Pinks & Purples is the post-indie project of Glenn Donaldson from San Francisco who releases songs like monthly postcards to a loyal following, amassing a huge catalogue of cathartic guitar pop – releasing 8 LPs over the last 5 years. The band debuts in the UK in June 2024 as a five-piece made-up of musicians from SF’s thriving indie-pop underground…
“A wonderful pop album that reads as both a studied tribute and a welcome update” — Uncut
Before launching The Reds Pinks & Purples, Glenn Donaldson notably played in lo-fi psychedelic pop duo the Skygreen Leopards, the Television Personalities-loving Art Museums, and a host of other projects like the heavy shoegaze duo Vacant Gardens and his lo-fi psych-folk project the Ivytree.
Donaldson launched the Reds, Pinks & Purples in 2015 on a split single with the Piano Movers and Michael O of the Mantles. It took a couple more years before the project was heard again. In 2018, there were two singles/demos released: ‘Uncommon Weather’ and ‘Human Life’. The songs were recorded in Donaldson’s San Francisco apartment, specifically the kitchen. Thanks to modern recording techniques and his own skills, they jangled just as cleanly and sounded as big as something made in a fancy studio.
A full collection of songs titled Anxiety Art was released by Pretty Olivia Records in September 2019, then the I Should Have Helped You EP was issued in 2020 by the I Dischi Del Barone label. That proved to be a busy year in Donaldson’s kitchen as the You Might Be Happy Someday album came out on Tough Love Records in October and another single, ‘Let’s Pretend We’re Not in Love’, followed the next month. In early 2021, he released a record he made in 2018 with Woods’ Jeremy Earl under the name Painted Shrines. The Reds, Pinks & Purples then returned with Uncommon Weather, the project’s first album for the venerable Slumberland label.
“The songs here are timeless reminders that pop can heal all wounds and bridge decades” — Raven Sings the Blues
“Like a Merge band that never existed in 1994 who are equally influenced by Magnetic Fields and East River Pipe, while also owning a lot of Felt and Field Mice Records” — Brooklyn Vegan
“Donaldsonʼs lyrics tend towards the observational, and are often delivered with a wry turn of phrase that can be laugh out loud funny. The Town That Cursed Your Name juggles pathos and bathos throughout” — The Wire
