With some twenty years’ experience in music, Piney Gir has earned a reputation as something of a go-to in the world of indie – there’s been collaborations and support slots with pretty much everyone, from big names like Ride, Gaz Coomes and Noel Gallagher to less-heralded indie acts such as The Hidden Cameras and Sweet Baboo. Wikipedia also notes that Piney – who was born in Kansas, but is now based in London – is also a journalist, cookbook author, and puppeteer. If that’s not enough to be going on with, Piney’s interest in witchcraft has led her to recently produce a trilogy of EPs. Starting with 2021’s mini space odyssey Astral Spectra and continued with the indie pop-magick exploration of Alchemy Hand in 2022, now latest release Cosmic Upside Down furthers her previous releases’ combination of twanging guitar stylings, deceptively simple lilts and Gir’s trademark honeyed vocals.
Opener ‘Show Me The Lightning’ has that guitar ringing right up front, while its lyrics speak of the magical excitement of heavy weather. As the track swells into its chorus, synths are introduced, which then swirl throughout, taking us further into the ethereal storm. Following this, the EP’s title track is a tale of tarot, with its title (and lyrics) discussing the ‘uncertainty’ of the cards’ meanings – especially when they are drawn inverted. The Cups “lead the way” but The Moon, despite its light, is still the most ambiguous. The Ace of Wands comes “out of the blue”, just like the flurry of sax that precedes it; threatening to take the track in another direction, before arpeggiated keyboard brings us back to the shuffle-and-draw process.
Switching themes, the lyrics of ‘What Have We Done for Nature?’ discuss climate change, with its keyboard-led backing evoking Jane Weaver, and elements of its percussion drawing from both White Album Beatles and ‘60s girl group rhythms. This is no polemic (which doesn’t seem Piney’s style), more a holistic consideration of what nature gives us, compared to what we give back. Not much seems to be the conclusion.
Closer ‘Witches & Covens’ is, musically, the gentlest track on the EP, but returns to the themes of uncertainty found in Cosmic Upside Down. Devotion here, much like for the subjects in its title, is a given, even when the subject of the song “twists” the narrator’s “melon”. Happy Mondays are just one of a few nods to other artists here, with a lift from Elvis’ ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ also featuring prominently. With the further reference to “stars align[ing] in East LA”, the whole feels like the tale of a well-versed musician grappling with the other-worldly, and the all-too-worldy – perhaps not coincidental, given Piney’s bio to date.
With an impressive degree of sonic density, as the musical experience of Piney and her backing band would suggest, these four intriguing songs draw the listener in to return and immerse themselves fully in the EP’s swirling majestic allure. It’s rather like the repetition of a witchy incantation, or laying out a spread of cards, you might say. A fascinating addition to an already decades-long career, Cosmic Upside Down suggests that Piney Gir will have us under her spell for some time to come.
Cosmic Upside Down, the new EP from Piney Gir, is out now via No Distance Records. The EP was produced and mixed by Tomas Greenhalf at Direktorenhaus and mastered by Kevin Tuffy at Manmade Mastering.
John McGovern
@etinsuburbiaego
Get In Her Ears 