Ribbon Skirt – Pensacola
Today, Ribbon Skirt release their new EP PENSACOLA via Mint Records, alongside the video for the title track.
The EP follows their acclaimed album Bite Down, and both the record and its standout track “Wrong Planet” were previously nominated for the Polaris Prize.
Ribbon Skirt unveil their mesmerizing new video, “PENSACOLA”, an immersive reflection on the path to self-identity shaped by a religious upbringing. Oscillating between the cavernous halls of St. Joseph’s Oratory and a shadowy, liminal dreamspace where the band slowly reveal themselves to the camera, the video’s texture evokes early 2000s camcorder footage: grainy, blown-out, and deeply intimate.
Through fast cuts and evocative imagery – votive candles being lit, slow walks through sacred spaces, and flashes of religious iconography – “PENSACOLA” takes shape as a visceral meditation on spiritual dissonance and self-discovery. The band appears in front of a blinding celestial light, often consumed by it, reflecting the central repeated lyric of “God’s light is shining down on you”. Torn between a desire to be seen and be consumed by something greater, these moments explore the tension between imposed belief and personal truth.
The video weaves lyrics translated into Oji-Cree syllabics throughout the video, grounding the song’s spiritual inquiry in ancestral memory and lived experience. As lines like “It was there all along” flash across the screen in syllabics, we’re reminded that Ribbon Skirt continues their commitment to creating work that’s both radically personal and culturally resonant.
PENSACOLA, the latest EP from Anishininaabe-fronted band Ribbon Skirt, is a moment suspended between reckoning and release. Framed as an epilogue to their critically acclaimed debut Bite Down, it captures the emotional residue left in the album’s wake – the lingering heat, the unsaid, the still-burning edge.
Shaped by memory and motion, PENSACOLA weaves shoegaze textures, piercing vocal hooks, and blown-out production with stripped-back flashes of quiet intensity. Tracks like “LUCKY8” and “COMMA,” pulse with urgency and emotional sleight of hand, while “BRAIDS” and the title track lean into something more fragile, haunted by questions of survival, family ties, and spiritual reckoning. With just four tracks, Ribbon Skirt closes one chapter while offering a glimpse of the evolution still ahead.
Ribbon Skirt is a Montreal-based post-punk band led by Anishinaabe musician Tashiina Buswa and guitarist Billy Riley. Their sound is raw and enveloping, channeling angular guitars, driving rhythms, and lyrical threads that explore memory, love, grief, and Buswa’s relationship to her Indigenous heritage.
Their debut album, Bite Down (Mint Records, April 2025), was met with critical acclaim and quickly established Ribbon Skirt as one of the most compelling new voices in indie music – earning Stereogum’s Album of the Week and a shortlist nomination for the 2025 Polaris Music Prize.
Following the release of their EP, PENSACOLA (Mint Records, October 2025), Ribbon Skirt will open for Wombo on their Fall USA tour.
10/3/2025: Chicago, IL @ Color Club
10/5/2025: St. Louis, MO @ The Sinkhole*
10/7/2025: Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge*
10/9/2025: Boise, ID @ The Shredder*
10/10/2025: Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios*
10/11/2025: Vancouver, BC @ The Kingsway Club*
10/13/2025: Seattle, WA @ Barboza*
10/15/2025: San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop*
10/17/2025: Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon*
10/18/2025: San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar*
10/19/2025: Phoenix, AZ @ Linger Longer Lounge*
10/21/2025: Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas*
10/22/2025: Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves*
10/23/2025: Oklahoma City, OK @ Resonant Head*
10/24/2025: Kansas City, MO @ Disco Burger & Varsity Club*
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