The Army The Navy – Sasha Goldberg and Maia Ciambriello – have an unbreakable cosmic connection and that chemistry is undeniable on their forthcoming debut album Fake Brave Life out June 12 via Independent Co announced today.
Growing up in the Bay Area, Sasha and Maia were familiar with each other’s existence but didn’t connect until their time as undergraduates at Loyola University at New Orleans studying songwriting. In a city rich with cultural history, The Army, The Navy took shape without a plan in mind. As roommates, the duo worked on songs individually–Maia in one corner of the room, Sasha in the other–but eventually they were drawn to one another’s process, combining ideas to build something new out of two distinctive minds. Exploring their potential as a duo, they began to amass a following in the beginning of 2023 with their viral single “Vienna (In Memorium)” and kept their momentum going with 2024 EPs: Fruit for Flies and Sugar for Bugs.
With their success continuing to grow, The Army The Navy threw themselves into making their debut album Fake Brave Life. What started as an intimate process between two friends evolved into a full-blown studio production, bringing in producers Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster, Of Montreal, Toro y Moi), BLEACHERS’ Mikey Freedom Hart (Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, The Chicks), session musicians and a string quartet who helped enact their vision. With a lush arrangement of instruments came Maia and Sasha’s stunning storytelling, digging deeper into their uniquely shared experiences of love and the loss of it, featuring songs written from past versions of themselves at Loyola University to their present lives as roommates in Los Angeles.
To coincide with the release, The Army, The Navy share “Pretty Pink and Soft,” an electrifying single expressing their exhaustion with second chances. “At a certain point, even the most patient people become fed up,” they say of the track. “ There’s only so much weaponized incompetence one can handle. Do I leave this person forever, or do I give them a second chance to make me a fool? ‘Pretty, Pink and Soft’ is the violent dance between loving and hating someone.”
“Pretty, Pink and Soft,” follows lead single “Walls,” a haunting call-and-response released in early February, receiving early support in Alternative Press. The band recently played their headline set at Treefort Music Festival after supporting tours with Joy Crookes, Dora Jar, Paris Paloma, and more.
