News of a new Piney Gir release is always greeted with a sense of delight and anticipation at Joyzine HQ. Since her 2004 debut album Peakahokahoo, she’s delivered a constant stream of excellent, ever-evolving music, taking on many different forms from cool electro to barn-storming country to warm-hearted indie-pop, always keeping some ineffable sense of Piney-ness at its heart that prevents things from ever sounding disjointed or incongruous.
Last week saw the release of Astral Spectra, the first of a series of EPs to be released via the always excellent Reckless Yes Records. It sees Piney burrow further down the psych-pop rabbit hole that she explored on 2019’s You Are Here and is again augmented by succulent harmonies from Roxys, the girl group vocal trio she formed with Emma Brammer and Amy Ashworth, who can also be heard providing lush backing for the likes of Gaz Coombes and Noel Gallagher.
Today, we are delighted to bring you a first chance to see the video for lead single ‘Voice of The Ages’, which kicks off with a head-nodding bass and keys strut before helter-skeltering into a wonderfully woozy dreamworld of spectral vocal harmonies, wonky guitars and shadowy cello. The track was inspired by her heroes from Syd Barrett and Velvet Underground to Brian Jonestown Massacre and in Piney’s words sees her “channelling my inner Grace Slick“.
Growing up in Kansas City, Piney was regularly taken to film festivals by her father to watch cartoon shorts in the art house cinemas, and here she was enthralled by the stop-frame animation of Aardman’s Wallace and Grommit. With the world grinding to a halt during the pandemic, she used the time to realise her dream of creating her own stop-frame piece, and the video for ‘Voice of The Ages’ is the outcome.
Bringing to mind Peter Gabriel’s seminal clip for ‘Sledgehammer’, the video was created from hundreds of tiny paintings inspired by nature and the cosmos: stars, rain, rainbows, comets, floods, fire, flowers, hearts, and Piney’s signature blue eyes, which were painstakingly moved, centimetre by centimetre to create short sequences, which were then layered together around green-screen footage of Piney performing the track, creating a trippy extravaganza of colour and movement. “It literally took months to make… but it was a lockdown well-spent.“
‘Voice of The Ages’ is taken from the EP Astral Spectra, out now on Reckless Yes Records. Buy it on CD or digital download via Bandcamp.
Catch Piney Gir live at the following shows
25th July @ The Lexington – Piney + Special Guests doing a semi-acoustic show: Tickets
18th September @ Loud Women Festival: Tickets
Find out more on Piney Gir’s official website.
Article by Paul Maps
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