Planam / Italy / 2015
This LP gathers Pumice recordings from 1993 to 1999, a period when teenagers Sugar Jon Arcus and Stefan Neville were discovering music simply by making it. Captured on battered ghetto blasters with stubbornly untuneable guitars, the earliest tracks come from home sessions in Whatawhata and Hamilton, New Zealand. Also included are a few pieces from their first public show with drummer Ugly Dog Davies—a gig where their own friends heckled them mercilessly.
The collection moves through their years in Dunedin, living cheaply with dogs and cassette four-track machines, filling endless time with sound experiments. It continues with material made after relocating back north to Hamilton and Auckland, much of it previously released in tiny lathe-cut or cassette editions, marking the last contributions of Arcus to the project.
Across these duo, trio, and solo recordings, the restless creative drive that defines Pumice is already clear. There are one-chord pop songs, disintegrating strains of folk, warped organ drones, and fragile sound sculptures. Small speakers strain under distortion and tape hiss; guitars twang, voices stumble toward songs of surprising substance. The music is reckless and unruly, but also tender, sad, and intuitive.