Pocket

Unheard Antimatter, an interview with Pocket.

From Goldie Zine September 2008
"My life as an adult has been, so far, quasi-nomadic, sort of in a lock-down with something that I can paradoxically never quite hold on to." says Tali Purkerson, a.k.a 'Pocket' a one-woman band and arranger/composer in describing her latest compilation of work, Limerance. The release, which will be available locally in short- production CD, tape and digital release earlier next month, has come to become one more latch on Pockets sonic ladder, taking a step further towards something which feels "more like myself, more like home, if that's even possible".
If anything, it seems this questionable connection to any element of home is what fuels this collection of heartfelt melodies, often peppered with complex interweaving of classically-infused guitar arrangements, distorted vocals reminiscent of 60-70's pop harmonies, and precise scattering of electronic sound bites. "A lot of what I am working through, not just as a musician/artist/whatever, but as a human being, stems from this sort of vulnerability regarding my place in the world, my current confusion about my relation to others, the material environment, and the overall archeological process of excavating that emotion. I know in a lot of ways, that entire image of 'being lost', and the neurosis of that feeling shows through at some level in what I am doing, both conceptually and pragmatically, yet that's a positive flavor in my eyes. I think anyone can relate on some level to those things." If anything, the moniker 'Pocket' itself could be considered as a biproduct of this vagabond-like energy that Purkerson seems to embody herself as well.
"I always feel like I don't necessarily feel truthful saying any one particular answer when people ask 'where I am from', because I can't really claim ownership over any roots or connections to any particular area, any particular identity. I actually feel werid actually evening owning a name, an age, a skin color, sometimes its like I shouldn't even have that."

Pocket's latest work, Limerance takes us through a spectrum of melodically lush-to-bare songs, ranging from the heavily disheartened 'Proper Ration' to the simplistic, self-honest 'Lucozade Bottle'. The Title Track, 'Limerance' also bears much of this self-honesty, and in some spots is sonically nostalgic of analog recordings. Hidagalo, one of Purkerson's most schizophrenic tracks seems to flaunt a myriad of influences, everything from 8 bit to Pavement to classical piano arrangements all within the span of 6 minutes. "Yea that song basically embodies a collection of uncertainty, lethargy, and then eventually vomiting" She says, perhaps unconsciously using her words as a form of rhythmic poetry as she describes the sprawling track. "So I can see why you can understand it from holographic, shape-shifting perspective."

Despite how blunt Pocket is about describing some elements of her work, she also balances a softness that borders on the delicacy of something which could easily break. Her vocals tend to have a bending nature after a certain point. "I do feel like a pubescent boy sometimes, even if I don't anatomically look the part". Lyrically, Purkerson's poetics are both dark and playful, ranging from lines such as "Every Grown man deserves his own gravestone" on the faux-country track 'Old Honey Rifle', to "I went off to lands unchartered, to get there I was stored in hidden compartments" on the track 'Mersault'.

For Tali, the issues of isolation and disorientation are evident in her approach towards process, as she has been writing, producing and arranging entirely as her own "band" since she first started recording and performing songs early on. "I was that girl in middle school who kept wanting to start a band with everyone, and by the time I got to highschool, college, everyone was already in a band, and there was something sort of sad about that enthusiasm being mis-matched with the timing of the context I was in." Regardless, she spent most afternoons after school practicing alone in her room, studying Andres Segovia, Django Rinehard and bookfulls of 1960s pop ballads and folk standards. After joining an all- girl punk band, the Lentigos in 2003, and later on joining a psychedelic-progressive rock group the Nervy Thanes in late 2004, she broke it off and pursued all the processes of recording more fully on her own, "It was nice not having to record from a 'live' approach with so many voices involved in the process, and really just hunker down and figure out things without any real predetermined dictation." Despite working from a place of what would be considered by outsiders as isolated, she appears to approach all aspects of her work rather as an exercise in self-induced solidarity. Oddly enough, Pocket feels the least entitled to the label of 'auteur', "Sure, I mean, its a 'single hand' essentially, but I think this whole concept of the 'auteur' is outmoded. It