Chicago trio Pixel Grip takes inspiration from the dimly-lit stages they dominate for their new album ARENA. Vocalist Rita Lukea and bandmates Jonathan Freund and Tyler Ommen used crowded clubs as inspiration for refining ARENA during the pandemic that cut off safe socializing. The group conceived of nightlife as a respite from the titular arena, the combative conditions of everyday life. “My head is also an arena,” Lukea says. “Swinging from mania to depression, struggling with my body image and eating disorders, addiction, anxiety, and gender confusion. When you are different, you don’t have a seat at anyone’s table. This album is me saying fuck your table.” 
 Pixel Grip’s songs confront wealth disparity, mental illness, and gun violence alike with over-stimulated confidence, audible in the relentless beats, Lukea’s vocals, and the purrs of guest vocalist and trans icon Cae Monāe on “Demon Chaser”. The palpable tension throughout the album culminates in the gentle release of closer “Double Vision,” written while Lukea was feeling sophisticated dressed in loafers and a silk shirt. If the bulk of ARENA takes place in the post-apocalyptic nightclub of your dreams, “Double Vision” is the sound of leaving the city and losing yourself in the blinding light of the desert - until night falls and you feel the urge to return to a dark club. ARENA is meant to be screamed along with at maximum volume, in anticipation of the day Pixel Grip can overpower a crowded venue once again.