Pamela.’s “Better Than Before” is a joyous hook-led excursion of a breakup

“People were resplendent, they started levitating”, joke Josh Kempen and Sarah Ellen, who make up Pamela., after their set at Brighton’s The Great Escape last week. The band are on a high following the 20th anniversary of the annual UK festival. Announcement news of their EP, It’s Nice To See You Here, eyes a release date of 10 July via EMI Australia.

While the UK anticipates idyllic weather conditions, Pamela. are doing their best to usher in the summer: “We were talking about how it came out at the perfect time, we feel like this song is like the clouds dissipating and the sun being in the sky.” “Better Than Before” is made for green fields and open skies, evoking the best of The Strokes, Dope Lemon, and Primal Scream. Staples of a summer playlist now have a new mate, and Pamela.’s latest will sit comfortably with the classics.

Though initially conceptualised while Kempen was going through a breakup, the track’s message is one of hope and excitement, not sadness. “It was the first time the clouds dissipated and I started to feel like I’m probably going to be alright after this,” he shares. “The first nugget of what it’s about is the first day I started to feel myself again.” The song hung around, unused for years: “I didn’t necessarily want to do anything with it, but when we started jamming together that’s when I was like, ‘Oh, this will be a good song actually.’”

Ellen recalls Kempen singing his parts while sitting at the dining table of their shared living situation: “As you were playing it, I remember riffing with that call and response thing. All of a sudden we had that really catchy, fun chorus, and then from there it was a Pamela. song.” The end result, a cool hook-led offering: “Better better than before / Better better than before / I can’t start it I can’t stop it / I got sunshine in my pocket.”

Listening to the track, you could easily be fooled for thinking Pamela. have been playing shows and releasing music since forever. The two were housemates for almost five years and spent that time writing music. But it wasn’t until just over a year ago that they decided to share their work. “We actually had no plans to be in a band,” Ellen explains. “But then after, like, two or three years of writing together we kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Wait a minute, none of our friends have actually heard any of our songs!’”

Finally, the pair started playing shows as Pamela., and things have moved quickly ever since. “Living together and writing together was so much fun. It would be eight in the morning, I’d walk into the kitchen where Josh would be playing his guitar, and I’d hear a melody, and would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, let’s do this.’ There are certain songs, especially some of the early, early ones where it's impossible not to think of that place.”

As their second single, “Better Than Before” offers a strong indication of what can be expected from the rest of the album, though the band assure BEST FIT that there is plenty more to expect: “It all feels like it’s in the same world but different flavours, it’s certainly not five ‘Better Than Before’s.” The promise of variety is exciting, whilst five variations of the same track doesn’t sound like the worst thing in the world, listeners should be happy to have one “Better Than Before”. Just be prepared to play it on repeat.