Wild Pink’s John Ross Found His Voice After Cancer, Fatherhood, and One Week in Asheville

Still Coming Down was recorded in one week at Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville with producer Alex Farrar, and John Ross says there was not a lot of overthinking. He had beaten cancer. He had become a father for the first time. He had looked back at the grunge bands he was obsessed with as a teenager and let that spark a deeper presence in his own voice. “Strangely, I feel like I’ve found my voice on this record,” he says. It comes out this Friday on Fire Talk, and it is Wild Pink’s sixth album.

The title track is the final advance single and Ross’s current favorite on the record. Meg Duffy of Hand Habits plays sinewy, slow-motion fretless guitar throughout. Landon George’s fiddle arrives in the middle. The song isn’t about any one single thing, Ross says — but mostly it’s about his son and the overwhelming love that comes with that. Over the top of all of it, he sings: “I used to be pure / I just try to be good now.” That line does a lot of work.

Wild Pink celebrate the release with an intimate show at Cassette in Queens this Friday, presented by Stereogum and Fire Talk, before an extensive world tour through the end of the year. Dates below.