Premiere: The Prids' Go On An 8-Bit, Gender-Neutral Quest in 'Mangled Hearts'

While many bands spend their years infighting over groupies they've fallen in love with, creative differences, or addiction, The Prids were busy overcoming sickness, death, divorce, and, two years ago, a brain hemorrhage that nearly left singer Mistina La Fave immobile.

Now, the band is back and showcasing why they've been a favorite of the DIY noise-pop crowd throughout their 22-year career with a new song called "Mangled Hearts." Yes, that's probably something you scrawled into your diary in 8th grade after your one true love decided to go to a dance with someone else, but the lyrics are no sob story. The track follows a "person running from intimacy, and breaking hearts all along the way," according to La Fave. "I was thinking a lot about sexual repression when I wrote this, and how so many people can't admit to who they are (gay, bi, poly, etc) and lead closeted lives."

In the visual for the new track, the band's keyboardist Tim Yates, who self-identifies as nonbinary and androgyne, animated an 8-bit video game style adventure stuffed full of LGBTQ symbolism. As he explained to OUT:

"From a cancelled 8-bit platform game, the Prids must be freed from their evil sadness, which has turned them into monstrous bosses of a surreal land. Your protagonist is randomly generated during the opening menu sequence: a nameless and gender-neutral every-person (they wear a shirt featuring the non-binary flag for most of the video). Your choices for how to defeat the various baddies are always non-violent, from simply sprinting to offering up vegan tacos. Some of the enemies also behave in ways inspired by the struggles of LGBTQ people; one-eyed pyramid creatures representing harmful religious doctrine, and knights of solid stone with scrolls symbolizing unjust and rigid legislation, for example. Watch it a few times to see if you can catch all the Easter eggs."

Watch the video below.