It’s hard to understate the love that Joyzine has for Piney Gir. Not only has she been a longstanding friend of the extended Joyzine family, we have been featuring her music for most of our 20 year history, and 2024 also marks 20 years since she released her first album Peakahokahoo. Her new EP Cosmic Upside Down completes a magical trilogy that started with Astral Spectra in 2021 and then Alchemy Hand in 2022. Drawing on supernatural themes and her spiritual connection to nature the witchy vibes on display here are often playful and wry, more Bewitched than Suspiria. Piney says:
“Learning about witchcraft felt like a feminist issue; the more I learned about it and saw so many parallels with feminist history & how women who were ‘different’ were deemed witches and oppressed, the more inspired I was to write and speak out about it. Back in Salem witch trials days women were persecuted for being widowed, for not attending church, for being educated, for marching to the beat of their own drum. We’ve come a long way these days, but there are still a lot of things in the world that are unjust, and I hope the EP provides a ripple effect to get the tides turning in a positive way!”
The true magic of these four songs is how they sit in the finest tradition of songwriting as a craft and their alchemy is refreshing when so much current pop music is formulaic and written inside digital programs like Logic or Cubase. This is music with fingerprints not algorithms, like the difference between a robot knocking out identical tables and chairs in a factory and an artisan crafting unique pieces with practices handed down over generations.
The opening track ‘Show Me The Lightning’ starts with bold musical stabs that part to allow Piney Gir’s exceptional voice through. As I said in my review of ‘Witches and Covens’ ‘her voice is as warm and friendly as the woman herself’ and it is commands your attention even over the power of the arrangement (I have also included the outstanding video to ‘Witches & Covens’ below).
The title track, ‘Cosmic Upside Down’, twists and turns around a gently processing arrangement with pauses and unexpected chord changes that are as intriguing as the play on words comparing people to tarot cards. Piney Gir’s voice is perfect without being treated but when the reverb is dialled up her voice ascends to the heavens…cue swoon! ‘What Have We Done For Nature? Opens like the Beatles ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ before adding a psychedelic tint to a 60s Motown vibe; like a technicolour Shirelles. For me ‘Witches and Covens’ is the standout track of the EP, ethereal and beatific, the backing is warm toast with Piney’s voice the butter melting on top.
Cosmic Upside Down would not be out of place in a record collection that is filled with artists such as The Kinks, Elvis Costello, Lucius, The Monkees, Jenny Lewis, and The Pretenders, who have brought us grown up pop with a high IQ. Piney Gir deserves to be a household name and if I was giving her a tarot reading then I would turn over The Star (cosmic protection), The Ace of Cups (love and wellbeing) and The World (fulfilment and success).
Piney Gir socials: Instagram | X | Facebook
Review by Paul F Cook
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