Panama Wedding

Into Focus is Kirk’s most personal & sincere work to date.

Spending his nights walking the streets of New York City from his Flatiron recording studio down to his East Village apartment, things finally came into focus for Peter Kirk. After several years of working an 11-hour day job in finance, Kirk left to pursue his passion—music. As Panama Wedding, Kirk has channelled all of the challenges and risks that come from leaving your steady job into his music. Following the release of its debut EP Parallel Play, Panama Wedding is back with a more cohesive set of tracks.

From the eponymous middle track “Into Focus,” which lyrically depicts Kirk’s struggles trying to balance a demanding job while pursuing his dreams (“I’ve been working all day long /I’ve been working out of my mind / waiting for my thoughts to shape into focus”) to its first single, “A Brand New Life,” conveying the expectations and emotions of growing older (“I didn’t know this was the ending I was sold”), Into Focus is Kirk’s most personal & sincere work to date.

Before the start of Panama Wedding, the Sea Cliff, Long Island native had spent years as a musician, growing up as a classically trained pianist. Music remained a hobby that he pursued by recording in his bedroom with friends and later in his Manhattan studio that he rented to explore writing and recording further. Kirk started to become more serious about making music when he would go to his studio every night for three years after his long workdays, tinkering with different sounds and honing in on his electro-pop craft.

In early 2014, things changed for Kirk. He signed with Glassnote Records—home to best-selling artists like CHVRCHES, Phoenix, and Mumford & Sons. That same year Panama Wedding released its first EP, Parallel Play, which was met with viral success. Singles “All of the People” and “Uma” have collectively amassed over 17 million streams on Spotify alone. Since his debut EP was released, Panama Wedding has played sold-out shows with the likes of St. Lucia, RAC, and Smallpools, played the summer festival circuit, and also landed a coveted TV performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.