“Will I ever get it together?” sings Sara Lindsay. The singer-songwriter had asked herself that question a million times a day, and even though she may not have an answer, it felt like the thematic base to a new song. “Get It Together” serves as Pete + Sara’s debut offering of 2021, containing a marching band underpinning that accentuates a collective and growing existential crisis.
Videos by American Songwriter
Alongside Peter Verdell, who built the underlying beat, the indie-pop duo leave a clear, indelible impression. “What am I supposed to do when I can’t follow through / Got too much on my mind,” Lindsay wrangles her inner turmoil. Truth be told, such pointed lines speak to a much larger sense of unease oozing throughout most of our lives these days.
“I like to hit rewind / I hope that you don’t mind,” she later confesses, right when production falls away to reveal a lone piano. “I like to take back all the things I said when I wasn’t fine / I’d like to tone it down / But I don’t know how…”
“I pretty much always feel like my life is not together…even if it appears to be together to everyone else,” Lindsay tells American Songwriter of the track, produced in Verdell’s home studio located in downtown LA. Initially, the song was written on just an acoustic guitar, and you’d never tell in the way it’s licorice production seems to crash on the senses. Ultimately, we’re all going through trying times, and “Get It Together” embraces the notion “that it’s okay to not have it together, because I believe nobody does.”
Lindsay originally hails from Lakewood, California, while Verdell relocated down from Olympia, Washington. The two musicians first teamed up 10 years ago as part of Verdell’s indie-rock pursuit, called Act As If. Life soon took them in different directions, but with Pete + Sara, they’ve reconnected in a way they could not have predicted.
“I feel the freedom to truly express my thoughts without judgement from my own self or others. Pete and I make a great team in this way; we’re comfortable enough to try and fail and look stupid with each other,” says Lindsay.
“Get It Together” displays influence from such artists as Julia Michaels and Lennon Stella, wielding wispy lead vocals against a vibrant, volatile musical landscape. Pete + Sara also draw upon artists like The Beates, Death Cab for Cutie, Smashing Pumpkins, and Mariah Carey in much of their work.
The duo are slated to release their debut album, Let’s Make It Complicated, through a nine-single release schedule throughout 2021.
Photo by Shauna Miller
