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May 19, 2022 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Vanessa Heins

Ten Kills the Pack is the moniker of rising indie folk singer/songwriter Sean Sroka. After debuting in 2019 with his first full-length record, Force Majeure, he returned last year with a new EP, Life, Death, & Afterwards, adding to his growing catalog of poetic observations and poignant songcraft. Today, Sroka has announced his next chapter with another new EP, Thank You For Trying: ACT I. Accompanying the announcement, Sroka has also shared a new single, “Curbside Panic Attack,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Curbside Panic Attack” finds Sroka ruminating on anxiety and depression, describing the warped mind space of someone in the midst of a panic attack. Sroka captures the surreal feeling and unseen internal monologue of a panic attack, darting between insecurities and confessions in an anxious stream of consciousness. Meanwhile, Sroka and co-producer Marcus Paquin (The Weather Station, The National, Arcade Fire) bring a lush sheen to the track, with Sroka’s vocals gliding above the warm instrumentation. It all builds to a powerful emotive high as the layers of guitar enlace with bursts of trumpets, bringing the track to a climactic finish.

Sroka says of the song, “The song is a moment told by flipping between the internal dialogue and the immediate surroundings of one in the midst of a panic attack or depression. It’s based on a reflection of vivid and dream-like scenes of these almost silent panic attacks and various lows that seemed to come from nowhere with no inspiration (all of which are now things I’m able to identify with age and begin to manage hah). However, when these similar moments still occur as a musician, I begin to feel this sort of deep connection and visualization of all my previous selves in these different settings but feeling the exact same thing, like a thread through multiple photos. And I can remember these moments like quiet scenes in a film.”

He continues, saying of the video, “Because the lyrics of the song can naturally be quite visual, when working with friend and collaborator Luke Nairn, we decided to think more about the feelings and the abstract visuals that the music gave us,” explains Sroka. “A way to shape a new type of creative moment for it to ‘be’ and a new looser narrative for it to accompany.”

Check out the song and video below. Thank You For Trying: ACT I is out on September 16th via Nettwerk.