Pikelet
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | INDIE
Music
Press
As Australia's independent music-makers attract some overdue notice in North America, Pikelet should not be overlooked. Sharing a label with Twerps and Beaches, Evelyn Morris' project has grown from loop-based solo recordings ("A Bunch" was a bewitching standout from her 2007 debut) to expansive, full-band space-rock. Calluses, due out August 2 on Chapter Music, is the follow-up to 2010's Stem, which was on the shortlist for the Australian Music Prize, the Down Under equivalent of the U.K. Mercury Prize. First advance track "Pressure Cooker," a rich, introspective kosmische workout, includes a dolefully repeated lyric about "darker days," but it glimmers with continued promise. "We are not alone," Morris sings, although sci-fi synths notwithstanding, she isn't referring to UFOs: "We have each other / We'll carry on." - Spin.com
Discography
Calluses - CD/LP (Chapter Music) Aug 2013
STEM - CD (Chapter Music/Love+Mercy) 2010
Not So Still EP (Special Award) 2009
Pre-Flight Jitters EP (Sabbatical) 2008
Pikelet S/T (Chapter Music) 2007
Chair and Lamp EP (Self released) 2006
Photos
Bio
Having shared stages with the likes of Dirty Projectors, Broadcast and Shellac in recent years, Melbourne synth-pop fourpiece Pikelet return in 2013 with their third album Calluses.
Due in August 2013, Calluses follows on from their Australian Music Prize-shortlisted 2010 album Stem, and 2007 solo debut Pikelet.
The band began as a solo project mid last decade for
Melbourne musician Evelyn Morris, and has progressed in
bold, inquisitive steps since becoming a fully-fledged live band in 2009, with the addition of drummer Matthew Cox, bassist/guitarist Tarquin Manek, and synth wizard Shags Chamberlain, who she met when they played together in Ariel Pink's backing band on his first Australian tour.
Originally Pikelet was made mostly with an accordion, percussion and a loop pedal. It came out to rave reviews, Pitchfork write-ups and community radio high rotation. Evelyn toured the world in solo mode, playing Pikelet shows with Jens Lekman in Portugal, Jeffrey Lewis in France and Bachelorette across America. Back home she appeared at festivals like Golden Plains and Laneway, and opened for Sufjan Stevens, Beirut and Goldfrapp among others.
When full band second album Stem emerged in 2010, the
expansion of Pikelet’s vision was immediately apparent. The
live band brought a cosmic edge that infiltrated Evelyn’s exploratory style with kaleidoscopic results. Glowing reviews
followed, as did Triple J rotation and community radio Albums of the Week. Fittingly, the album was one of nine records shortlisted for the 2010 Australian Music Prize (Australia's equivalent of the Mercury Prize)
Since then, the band have toured Australia extensively, playing their own headline shows as well as shows with Ariel Pink, Dirty Projectors, Devendra Banhart, Dirty Projectors and Broadcast (among others), and festivals such as Mona Foma, Queenscliff and Melbourne International Arts Festival. Evelyn also drummed for Japanese noise legends the Boredoms at Melbourne International Arts Festival, and toured nationally supporting Shellac in solo Pikelet mode in late 2012.
The band have now finished stunning third album Calluses, a bold statement of artistic ambition and new purpose. Teaser track Pressure Cooker was premiered by Spin.com in May, and the album is due for release on Chapter Music in August 2013.
PRESS QUOTES FOR PIKELET:
“An offbeat koan for romantic Aussie adolescents” Pitchfork
“Glimmers with continued promise” Spin
“Stem is a modest masterpiece” Big Issue
“Sumptuous, somersaulting summer music” Herald Sun
“A musical for modern wonderment” The Sunday Age
Links
