ALBUM: Pinky Pinky – ‘Turkey Dinner’

Giving up her music studies, Anastasia Sanchez replaced her violin with a drum kit, favouring the creative energy of DIY indie rock over the mentally-exhausting paragon of classical music virtue. Joining guitarist Isabelle Fields and bassist Eva Chambers, the Los Angeles trio pulled together their influences – from the Sex Pistols to Jeannie Piersol – and evolved into the monstrous Pinky Pinky.

Taking their namesake from a South African urban legend that terrified an entire generation of schoolgirls, Pinky Pinky’s early iterations were punk, then psychedelia, then blues, before the band realised that they needn’t focus on one genre. Following two extended plays – the self-titled Pinky Pinky EP and most recently Hot Tears, their debut album – Turkey Dinner is a an oddball mishmash of ’60s psych, surf-rock, and unpretentious observations.

Biting down gently on lips, opening track ‘My Friend Sean’ fantasises about the hottest boy is school: “Those pattern jeans, his ass busts through the seams!”. All the girls and boys want Sean. Next, Pinky Pinky take us through downtown LA in their ‘Mystery Sedan’ – ’60s garage pop blasting from the tapedeck – , whilst ‘Floorboards’ leads into ‘Lady Dancer’; two tracks that form two halves, with Anastasia displaying shades of Heart’s Ann Wilson and Kate Bush in her shrill vocal delivery during the first half, and Fiona Apple in the second. Both tracks have an infectious raw energy, and Isabelle’s closing guitar solo will leave you with a crick in your neck!

Four tracks into Turkey Dinner and the fresh-out-of-high-school Pinky Pinky have wasted no time in establishing their own style; foot-tapping rock and roll rooted in classic psychedelia, but bolstered by authentic perspectives on everything from passion to distress. The slower paced harmonies of ‘Applecheeks’ is followed by the surfy SoCal acoustic guitar and tropical drum patterns of ‘Do Me Dirty (Charlie)’.

This album provokes so many emotions, but it is the combination of Eva’s solid rock and roll basslines, paired with Anastasia’s vocal honesty in ‘Mr. Sunday’ that left me melancholic – “Can’t seem to feel what he’s done to me. I’m numb from pain ‘cause he don’t love me.”

The acoustic summer sounds of ‘All The Birds’ are contrasted by the echoing guitar tones, spirited drum beats, and themes of unrequited love in ‘If It Didn’t Hurt’, whilst ‘Sticking Around’ also tackles a similar theme of a doomed relationship, and finally, closing track, ‘Loose Change’, closes the band’s first full-length effort with a combination of keys, horns, and Eva’s irresistible bass guitar.

With every single one of the thirteen tracks on Turkey Dinner, Pinky Pinky have crafted a live-sounding album that is not only this year’s head-bobbing soundtrack to the summer, but an honest example of compelling songwriting and storytelling.

Turkey Dinner is out 14th June via Innovative Leisure. Pre-order here.

 

Ken Wynne
@Ken_Wynne

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

Track Of The Day: Skating Polly – ‘Flyer’

Following the release of their fifth album The Make It All Show last year, and having blown us away with the sublime force of their live show on more than one occasion, our favourite sibling punk-rock trio Skating Polly have now announced details of an upcoming European tour, alongside a brand new single.

Addressing feelings of anxiety, ‘Flyer’ sees siblings Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse share vocals, whilst Kurt Mayo thrashes out the beats on the drums. Propelled by deep, penetrating bass-lines alongside swooning, sun-filled surf-rock vibes, Kelli and Peyton’s honey-sweet harmonies soon build to a frenzied cacophony, filled with a seething, angst-driven power. An immediately infectious offering, ‘Flyer’ oozes the trio’s trademark juxtaposition of riotous grunge-fuelled punk, tinged with luscious heartfelt sensibilities.

Of the track, Kelli explains:

“’Flyer’ is about this overwhelming self consciousness and agoraphobia that’s been hitting me a lot lately. I was scared to leave the house, scared to see my friends, scared to make decisions of any kind. That led to writer’s block because I wouldn’t stick with any choices. So I made a deal with myself. ‘Play House’ was gonna be a straight forward song structure with playful and abstract lyrics and ‘Flyer’ would have a very abstract song structure and very personal sincere lyrics. Peyton wrote my favourite part of the whole song – “I’ve had more than enough time to learn what I felt was not a thought crime””. 

‘Flyer’ is out now via El Camino Media. Catch Skating Polly live (with co-headliner She Makes War) this Autumn:

14th October – Gulliver’s, Manchester
15th October – The Cluny, Newcastle
16th October – Broadcast, Glasgow
17th October – Beta, Nottingham
18th October – The Lexington, London
19th October – Swn Festival, Cardiff
20th October – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

LISTEN: Peaness – ‘Breakfast’

Chester band Peaness‘ first new music in two years isn’t a tribute to the humble hash brown, but a soundtrack to accompany Britain’s (potential?) exit from the EU. With its delayed release coinciding with the somewhat confused state of politics at the moment, the band have now shared their new single ‘Breakfast’. Of the track, the band explain: “We’ve released this… as Britain says goodbye to the European Union and faces the future alone.”

And ‘Breakfast’ really does feel like a break-up song. You can hear the sadness in the melancholic vocals and slow, rhythmic guitar. But it’s weirdly uplifting too; it’s so personal, honest and relatable that you feel like Peaness have got inside your head, stolen your thoughts and added them to a jaunty tune. By the time the chorus hits, you can’t help but join in.

“I’m not really sure exactly what they’re hoping for,” they sing, “I’m not sure they knew what they were in for.” Well, neither are we. But, if the world ends in a couple of weeks, at least we can show solidarity and have a bit of a shimmy to this.

 

‘Breakfast’ is out now, stream on Spotify. And catch Peaness live at Indietracks this summer:

26th – 28th July – Indietracks Festival, Midland Railway, Butterly

Vic Conway

Artwork: Akbar Ali
Photo Credit: Asupremeshot

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

ALBUM: Barrie – ‘Happy To Be Here’

It’s sort of like waking up from a deep sleep, scattered with dreams, when the first lilts of album opener ‘Darjeeling’ hit you. Barrie Lindsay’s voice, oozing with harmony, doesn’t do much to dispel the slightly woozy feeling that permeates through Happy to Be Here, the debut album from her and the semi-eponymously named fivepiece Barrie. By the time you hear the feet on the stairs of its middle eight (reflecting lyrics of the same phrase), you know you’re in for an imagist ride of many colours, albeit one that’s still meticulously plotted out.

If dream pop is your bag, it’s here in spades. The ’90s video game ether of ‘Dark Tropical’ and its synthy hook; the atmosphere builder of the full fat electronic keys in ‘Saturated’; ‘Teenager’ with its horn-like synth blobs.

That being said, the band are a mixed-up bunch and underneath the sparkle, there’s something slightly more frenetic. Drummer Dominic Apa also plays with Brit electronic rock act, Is Tropical, whilst multi-instrumentalists Spurge Carter and Noah Prebish are DJs who originally bonded over a shared love of house. Sabine Holler, meanwhile, is a German performance artist that the band recruited via a dating app. And somehow, all of this is audible in the mishmash wall-of-sound that typifies the likes of ‘Habits’, with its high-life guitar and post-punk bass, and ‘Chinatown’, with its classic pop-meets-chillwave and delightfully stringy guitar solo. ‘Geology’, meanwhile, crosses genre and decades as its summery West Coast ’60s soul guitar verses flow into ’90s dance-pop choruses.

The standout though is lead-single ‘Clovers’. It, too, shares the mammoth thump in its choruses, as its synths build, blare and bloop all over Barrie’s vocals, extending that middle syllable of the song’s title for what feels like aeons. But here, it’s the contrast with the verses that really make the bombast worth it. Simple, almost childlike lyrics backed by single note piano melodies that stop just as the song explodes back into life. Its harmonised vocal acapella closing is perfect too – syrupy and satisfying.

Shout-outs to album closers too: penultimate track ‘Casino Run’, which evokes synthwavers College (of ‘Real Hero’ from the Drive soundtrack), and finale ‘Hutch’, which is about as close to straightforward pop as the LP gets, piano-led with Barrie’s honeyed voice poured over the top.

The press that came with the album describes it as “snapshots of the band coming together”, and that “inclusivity and friendship is at the heart of Barrie”. Given the disparate nature of how the five individuals came together, and then managed to make it work so well, the latter must certainly be true. It’s the former that sticks with you, though, after the album has finished. The sense of being young, in a squad, kicking around a town. And that’s especially true when you find out that many of these songs were written as part of Barrie Lindsay’s initial career as a solo artist. When it comes to the debut she’s just released, you can take it that her bandmates are indeed happy to be here.

Happy To Be Here, the debut album from Barrie, is out now via Winspear.

John McGovern
@etinsuburbiaego

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment