View The Review
7 out of 10
What I now realise is a surprisingly large number of years ago, I used to sit for hours at my laptop and trawl through purevolume.com trying to discover my new favourite band. I would download all the free tracks I could and make little mix CDs for myself to listen to, then rank the tracks and try and find more stuff by the bands that had scored highly. Aside from highlighting how much of a social recluse I was during my early teenage years, this story does have some sort of point, because I believe that Pinksy is exactly the sort of band I would have treasured during that era. Because Pinksy are a bit of a discovery, perhaps even a diamond in the rough, and it might be time to pin your ears back a bit, because it might not be long before they explode (I'm talking about explosive diamonds clearly).
Pinksy seemingly have a lot going for them. Beverly is the sort of track that gets your hopes up about the strength of an album, it has a great little synth riff, and a decent chorus, it sets the whole EP up nicely. I was eagerly awaiting more of the same, but then they threw me a bit of a curveball with Should I Have Known, it didn't sound anything like Beverly. I had happily created my preconceptions for Pinksy as another synthy-pop-rock band, but then some slide guitar comes out of nowhere and Pinksy seem to have a bit more about them. The only constant between the two songs is the dual vocal work, with one singer in particular having more than a touch of Andy Jackson (Hot Rod Circuit) about him, which passionately drives the songs along. Throw in an acoustic number two tracks later, in Sailor Song, and Pinksy are clearly keen to demonstrate that they have some variety about them.
Yet this approach does throw the EP a little in that it can be seen to lack a touch of coherence, and perhaps, even if subconsciously, this EP might be seen as an attempt for Pinksy to showcase the range of their songwriting more than to create an album. But that is a minor criticism, because as a whole I heartily enjoy what Pinksy have created, especially the vaguely Hey Mercedes-ish Still Drinking, which sounds like what would happen if Bob Nanna collaborated with Latterman.
I think now would be a good time to have a serious listen to Pinksy, because there are some positive signs here, and despite some rough edges, there is clearly something very valuable indeed lurking just below the surface (as well as some incredible mixed metaphors).
Listen: www.myspace.com/pinksymusic
Tracklist:
1. An Introduction
2. Beverly
3. Should I Have Known
4. Moving On
5. Sailor Song
6. Still Drinking
7. What We're Doing
8. Hello, My Friends (Demo)
9. Make Decisions (Demo)
No comments:
Post a Comment