Piney Gir - The Yearling

Come with Piney Gir as she leads you on a surreal nature walk, stopping occasionally to become engaged to a bumble bee or transforming herself into a lion. If you’re already a fan of Piney’s delightfully skewed view of the world, then her latest ‘The Yearling’ is a hugely welcome addition to the beautifully bonkers universe of all things Gir. Newcomers will doubtless be baffled but simultaneously smitten with her latest offering of wonky genius.

It’s not a staggering work of superb shimmering electronica like 2004’s ‘Peekahokahoo’ and it’s certainly no warped country hoedown of ‘Hold Your Horses’ (2006), but then who the hell wants a reworking of the same stuff anyway? Instead, ‘The Yearling’ dances very much to its own eclectic tune, whether that is the wistful easygoing accordion of ‘Say I’m Sorry’ or the jazz lite of ‘Blithe Spirit’ (on the surface a lighthearted soufflé of a track but in reality a sinister little ditty about haunting someone forever). Piney gets extra weird points for perhaps the most stylishly strange title for a track ever in ‘Blixa Bargeld’s Bicycle’. Now, who in their right minds would think to put pen to paper and compose lyrics about the former Bad Seed/Einsturzende Neubauten guitarist’s choice of transport? You just couldn’t make it up! And not half a bad tune to accompany it, either (though probably a little too sweetly melodious for the famously atonal Mr Bargeld’s liking). Just when you’ve recovered from the sheer quirkiness of this, along comes ’Bumble Bee’, the previously mentioned tale of the cross-species marriage, set to a perky bossa nova beat. Got your head around that? Excellent, cos here comes Piney’s ode to being a lion (‘Lion (I Am One)’) - a slinky sloping jazzy track, with low slung double bass and minimal beat accompaniment somehow conveying the prowling sway of said wild cat perfectly.

The joy of Piney is that although on paper this collection of bizarre sounds and kerrazy ideas seem suspiciously like someone hell bent on being, well, odd for odd’s sake, it actually hangs together extremely well for the simple reason that she’s not got a phoney bone in her body. Piney really is one of life’s (sadly rare) authentic eccentrics who can also pen a tune to make your heart sing - it’s as simple and as devastating a combination as that. If there is a teeny complaint it’s that occasionally ‘The Yearling’ doesn’t fizz along with the pep of some of Piney’s earlier work. This is not to say she’s slumped at all – it’s just that it’s more of a Sunday morning, contemplative record than some of her hi-NRG Saturday night on the town previous stuff. However, if it catches you in the right mood, it’s as a charming a record as you could hope for, and knocks the pants off most records you’ll hear around at the moment in terms of originality, style and way out there catchy kookiness.