The Drop… Fall’s gold

Review: Pinkunoizu – The Drop

Published on July 19th, 2013 | Jonny Abrams

“It’s going to be called The Drop and it can be perceived as one long fall through different plateaus that interconnect with each other in various ways”: that’s how Danish psychedelic troupe Pinkunoizu described their forthcoming second album in our recent interview.

Like the music itself, this description manages to fashion a strange sense out of the abstract. Pinkunoizu were already one of the most ‘interesting’ bands going, however much stock you place in that sort of thing; with The Drop, they’ve consolidated their position as one of the best as well.

“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is a stunning opener, like some galactic conglomeration of Can, Silver Apples, Gong and all sorts of great psych-y stuff like that.

The boy/girl vocals provide a melodic topsoil that can be easy to overlook in amongst all the whirring sci-fi effects and brooding Yo La Tengo-iness, and The Drop proceeds to delight Rocksucker by bringing to mind various other modern-day greats without ever feeling in danger of outright ripping them.

There’s the Animal Collective-ishly bubbling ‘n’ fizzing synths of “Necromancer”, which builds within its ten minutes into one of the most epic things you’ll hear all year, and then “Moped” sounds somehow as if Go! Team had been swept up by a tornado.

Is “Pyromancer” a word? Either way, it’s laterally conceived pop music drilled through with swipes of electric guitar that might sound angry were they not engulfed by a swarm of playful electronic elements.

Just to round out the demonstration of Pinkunoizu’s startling range, “I Said Hell You Said No” starts out a sophisticated mix of fluttery string arrangement and agreeably loping groove à la Super Furry Animals circa Love Kraft, then becomes an oddly laid-out psych-folk exploration worthy of Tunng.

That ‘vibe’ bleeds into mesmerising set-closer “Down in the Liverpool Stream”, which furnishes itself so exquisitely that any band abstaining from the use of synths – as a properly integrated instrument, rather than just an easy means of ’80s pastiche – feel unforgiveably luddite in their week.

If you’ll pardon the football analogy, Pinkunoizu link the present and the future like a great playmaker links defence and attack. They’re firmly established as one of *those* bands now; you know, one whose every move is worthy of your attention.

Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!

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The Drop will be released on August 5th by Full Time Hobby.

You can pre-order The Drop on iTunes

Artists: pinkunoizu

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.