The Melbourne gal's second album is a sweet n' squiggly thing, marching to a beat of woozy grooves with a steady stream of otherworldly melody and downhome spirit. 2ser Subscribers can win a copy all week on Breakfast, Overdrive and Static.
Stem is the second album from Evelyn Morris, aka Melbourne folk-psych wunderkind Pikelet. It builds on the heady, swirling loops of her 2007 self-titled debut, sailing into the psychedelic pop stratosphere with the addition of a full backing band. The album is a joint release between Melbourne labels Chapter Music and Love+Mercy. Recorded with Chicago expat producer Casey Rice (Tortoise, Sea And Cake, Liz Phair, Ben Lee), Stem is an incredible expansion of vision. New Pikelet inductees Shags Chamberlain (synths), Tarquin Manek (bass, clarinet, backing vocals) and Matthew Cox (drums) bring a cosmic space-prog edge, infiltrating Evelyn's wide-eyed style with mind-expanding results.
The album opens with woozy casio symphony Toby Light, coursing through the elegant march of Smithereens and the dream-inspired imagery of Introducing. Gameland’s distant vocals echo over loops of sped-up percussion, while shuffling, shimmering first single Weakest Link stands out as a bona-fide pop classic. By the time you get to delicate closer Elbow Equals Bend, it’s clear that Stem is the work of a woman enchanted. Evelyn has come a long way since Pikelet sprang to life in 2006, named in tribute to the small pancakes (called pikelets in Australia) her mother used to whip up when money was scarce. Before Pikelet, Evelyn was a hardcore kid, a drummer with serious chops in various local bands such as Baseball and True Radical Miracle.
But her self-titled debut Pikelet was decidedly un-hardcore, made mostly with an accordion, a floor tom and a loop pedal. It came out in 2007 to rave reviews, Pitchfork write-ups and community radio high rotation. Evelyn promptly took off around the world, touring the UK and Europe with Darren Hanlon, and returned home in hot
demand, invited to play festivals such as Golden Plains and Laneway, and open for the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Beirut and Goldfrapp.
Since assembling her handsome new band, Pikelet has continued to tour Australia with Mount Eerie, Lucky Dragons, and Ruby Suns, as well as playing a headlining show at the Melbourne International Arts Festival. Not only that, she has recently returned from a four month solo world odyssey, playing everywhere from L.A. to Latvia with acts including Jens Lekman, Jeffrey Lewis, Tiny Vipers and R. Stevie Moore.
It seems the sky is the limit for Pikelet, but actually that’s not quite right. As Stem proves, not even outer space can contain her!
