Pumice

Pumice

Phylis

Soft Abuse

Pumice returns with an exquisite experimental bathroom sink pop record in hand, dubbed Phylis. This time out the long-running Aotearoa band, currently a duo consisting of Stefan Neville and Jade Farley, fracture sore-thumbed folk songs into crumpled bricks with riffs written on the toilet. Wonky South Pacific skiffle careens into heady organ dirges followed by galloping blurts of afterlife feedback. As ever, texture and accidents rub up against melodies, rhythms are not strict and words are grubby. But with Phylis, the restless band tenders its most exuberant, straightforward and enjoyable pop record yet. Recorded at Neville’s Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland studio in 2021, Neville and Farley have returned to the simple and joyful instincts of the earliest Pumice recordings. Nylon strings, drums with the feet, the empty and the absurd. Impossible to think of something analogous to the cosmic comforts on offer here, Phylis once more presents songs that could only come from the world of Pumice.

Pumice

Table

Soft Abuse

Pumice —now the duo of Stefan Neville and Jade Farley—stretch time further out, leaning heavily on drones and moans in making their modern day Aotearoa folk-rock masterpiece. The fruits of their time together as a pair has come to bear in the buzzing, swirling epic: Table.  Table! Table primarily finds Pumice deep in a pastoral expanse, with Farley’s violin lines and Neville’s organ drones serving collectively as guide. Elsewhere the dense fog of synth, guitar, F/X, chants and melodies create warm miniature zones to tuck into.  With each new recording, Pumice finds a way to achieve new levels of rugged grandeur. Table is the latest example.

Pumice

Platelets

Soft Abuse

A diagnosis lament from Pumice, complete with a fatigued, wheezing (yet hopeful!) ode to his condition on the A side and artwork to match. Stefan Neville mostly returns to one-man-band mode on Platelets, save for some crucial violin and keyboard by Jade Farley on “Haemochromatosis…” augmenting Neville’s accordion and guitar moves. The flip is pure classic unadulterated Pumice bash & chug of the highest order. As beautiful and necessary as all of his recordings.

Pumice

Puddles

Soft Abuse

First proper PUMICE full length since 2012, and the first to feature collaborators such as HERMIONE JOHNSON, CLAIR MAHONEY (IT HURTS), LEIGHTON CRAIG (PRIMITIVE MOTION), GLEN FRENZY and MATTHEW DE GENNARO. The fluidity of contributors both expands and (oddly) reinforces the notion of Pumice; wobbly rhythms, intercom screech, the small silver guitar and STEFAN NEVILLE's (Pumice himself!) lonesome croon all mingle with droning chord organ, synth blurts, and dense avant backdrops. LP includes a download.

Pumice

Land

Soft Abuse

*** On Land, Pumice lurches and spits through a series of dense, deep dirges built from chord organ, tape & occasionally voice, recorded to two-inch reel-to-reel by Stefan Neville. These blown-out meditations mark the first batch of songs made by Pumice in years, and find Neville alternately pushing the boundaries of his music further out while also peering further inside. Heavy & thick & transformative, Land marks a new chapter in the always-evolving world of Pumice.