Ahead of the EP's release, Pem talks about crafting meaning through raw lyricism, harsh vocals and restrained instrumentation.
Words: Lloyd Bolton
Pem is the architect of an especially thoughtful form of music. Her lyrics are raw, but carefully chosen, enlivened by a brittle delivery and minimal instrumentation that nonetheless creates a very full effect. Sonically, her work is built on the candour of Elliot Smith, the richness of Mazzy Starr and Broadcast, 60s pop vocals. Her new EP 'cloud work,' which releases this Friday, draws lyrically and musically on Pem's experiences in the wake of the death of her father and the time spent caring for him.
Though she has written songs since she started playing guitar and piano in her early teens, Pem only recently began to gain the confidence to release her work. Musing on when she first considered herself any good, she dates it to "probably just, like, two years ago." The change was largely inspired by a friend asking to record her songs, music that had hitherto just been "something I've done on the side." From here, she has steadily grown in confidence in her own form of songwriting.
"I guess I look at things through quite a deep, analytical lens."
A period spent training in psychotherapy further enriched the vividity of her writing. "I definitely like to approach songs from a psychological perspective… I guess I look at things through quite a deep, analytical lens." This sense of removal, distance, seems to inform 'cloud work' even as it explores intense moments of personal anguish. Structurally, the music tends towards the methodical, centring on musical hooks upon which layer upon layer of charged lyrics are delivered. 'Martin Pêcheur,' for example, is built around a simple piano loop, while 'gut health,' grows constantly but is always guided by its short, melodically repetitive phrases. The lines, "You came in like a downpour, I'm going out like steam," usher in a subtle build of drums and a loosening of the rhythm guitar part, unravelling in keeping with the growing candour of the emotions laid out.
Discussing her lyric-writing, Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake are mentioned, along with Sibylle Baier, but perhaps the most directly felt influence is that of Elliot Smith. She explains that she was inspired by "the rawness" of his music… "it's very metaphorless." 'cloud work' is full of brilliant details that draw on real moments – often mundane things like talking about the weather or taking in the washing – but invest in them the emotions that bleed through the context, resisting gratuitously florid symbolic detail. Opener 'gulls,' for example, takes its title image from a seagull being the first thing she saw looking out of the window moments after her father's death. This style recalls François Truffaut's commenting on his films that, "I only understand what is on the screen. In my whole life, I have never understood a single symbol." The power of much of the lyricism of 'cloud work' is in its selection of real moments, thrown into association by the hand of a poet.
With inspiration coming from classic songwriters and the similarly rich productions of the likes of Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, Pem's vocal reference points are something of a surprise. "Delivery-wise, I really like 60s girl bands like The Cherelles and The Ronettes." It is in these powerful vocalists, rather than in those singer-songwriters who draw meaning out of the experiences in their lyrics, that she references in her stern, powerful singing voice. She describes the "soulful, siren-like" quality of these early pop singers, pointing also to the "gravelly" quality of Edith Piaf. "They're quite theatrical vocals, quite dominating." In experimenting with her own vocals, she has found that, "It's quite fun to have a strong, heavy voice with quite a gentle, ethereal, synthy kind of background."
"I like to try and capture a moment."
By her own reckoning, Pem's work comes about quite instinctively, even if the full gestation process of a song gets drawn out somewhat. She tends to start with a melody to which lyrics and meaning can be attached. This may take a long time, as with 'gut health,' where "I had that guitar part for months and wasn't ready to write the lyrics" until one day "they fell into place." 'grips,' however, came relatively quickly: "It was just that melody all the way through. I found that guitar part, then the next day I put down the lyrics and then the song never changed."
Photo: Genevieve Reeves
"I like to try and capture a moment," she says of her writing. "I might try and change a word or two, but once the bare bones of it is there I'll try and stick with that as much as possible." The EP has a very organic feel, echoing the lyric-writing process in its understated instrumentation, the intimacy of the performances, and also the inclusion of field recordings made by Pem around the time of its writing. That said, working with Ali Chant, whose previous work with the likes of Portishead, Sorry and Katy J Pearson has tended to the maximalist, she wanted to explore pushing the songs to a new scale. "We played around," trying to "marry" the "delicacy and intimacy of my songs" with his instinct for making something sound "very big."
Following these experiments, there was a process of "gently stripping it back," trusting in the bones of each song to carry the feeling through, while leaving a degree of roughness in the lingering details that create a sense of vividity throughout. Pem looks on 'gulls' as perhaps the most complete track for what she had wanted to create, the found sounds mingling with the musical details to create something "very gentle and intricate." She explains, "for me that is the one that's kind of captured the world. That one captured the abstractness but also intimacy that I wanted to explore."
'cloud work' releases on 7th June. Pem headlines The Lexington on 14th June.
