Pikelet's New Flavour
March 1, 2010Pikelet (aka prodigious Victorian pop talent Evelyn Morris) is known for her looped, instrumental solo work. New album Stem explores working with a full band, and she tells MAG’s fully clothed Dan Rule about the transition.
Years of touring solo afforded Morris the peace of mind to work with a band. “I find touring by myself really healthy. I’ve had to learn to not worry too much about the fuck-ups or the shows that don’t go well, and that’s how I became capable of giving my songs to other people and not being so precious. It’s taken time to figure out how to be in a band.”
Morris is fascinated by the malleability of creative process. “Song-writing can kind of be like religion or science. Religion is where you have an end result and you have to write backwards from that, because the answers are there. With science, on the other hand, you have no idea what’s going to go on and you’re just enquiring and enquiring and getting answers as you go.”
New record Stem may have risen from a more conventional band set-up, but Morris ensured it was more challenging than ever. “I was a little bit self-conscious about the fact that I might just get a band and then start writing really straight-up pop songs. I’m really interested in walking that fine line between pop and experimental music. I wanted to lull people into a false sense of security, then throw something weird at them.”
Morris’ lyrics have assumed an introspective, almost philosophical, quality. “Death is a bit of a recurring theme for me. I’m fascinated by it. A lot of my songs work as responses to religion. There are so many songs about going to heaven and believing in stuff like that, so I’m interested in what I can write about in place of that, because I don’t believe in it.”
Song Endurance Hunter takes an anthropological bent, invoking a hunter stalking his prey. “Endurance hunters chase their prey until the prey is exhausted. When they eventually catch the animal, they have a ceremony in which they free the animal’s spirit before taking it home to feed their family. All the parts of the song represent different parts of the chase.”
Stem is available via Love & Mercy/Shock.
