Pena – Pocket Sized Pocket
Pena is the moniker of Rochester-based Isaiah Welch-Novels, who has just released their latest offering, Pocket Sized Pocket (PSP). Inspired by Rob Crow (of Pinback, Thingy, and solo-project fame), PSP is an understated and mysterious project built primarily around Isaiah, a four-track tape recorder, and his acoustic guitar. Any fan of Crow’s extensive discography knows his work is all-encompassing, including found sounds and a creative aesthetic that some might describe as “low effort” (check Pena’s bandcamp tags for proof)… but others see as genius. Pena follows a similar path – expect perplexing sound clips, room sounds, and other artifacts as you make your way through this intriguing LP.
The album opens with a wash of white noise on “Recycling Song.” Right away, Pena’s hallmarks become evident – noisy, direct-to-tape recordings; lyrical meandering; and pleasant-but-somber guitar riffs that don’t stick around for too long. In fact, there’s only one song on PSP that tops two minutes, but we’ll get to that later. “Recycling Song” deserves its own time in the spotlight for its introduction to the album and its lighthearted lyrical content that doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously – I break down my boxes/I donate my box tops. He continues this energy on track two, “Self Loathing,” and although the lyrics are a bit more self-deprecating (in a good way), Welch-Novels closes out the sub-one-minute track with a lively, if odd, time signature.
While some of PSP has lyrics, many of the tracks here are instrumental or experimental. Jumping ahead to the aforementioned two-minuter, track nine “Head Rush,” Welch-Novels puts together a beautiful layering of guitars played in 5/4 time. There’s also the vintage drum machine waltz of “Guitar 3,” which gets our nod for album favorite – its combination of jangly guitar melody, rigid percussion, and white noise works together flawlessly to create something that sounds nostalgic… Rob Crow would definitely dig this one. Runner up fav goes to album closer “Instrumental 1,” with its hyper-warbled guitar and plucky bass thumps. For more adventurous listeners, try “Sleeping Giant,” which sounds like someone taking a shower and walking outside at the same time, or, the futuristic-sounding, robotic-voiced album outlier, “Steve Jobs.”
The closest thing to a “single” on PSP is the acoustic jangle of “Chagrin.” With a fully-fleshed-out set of words and a tangible structure, “Chagrin” brings to mind Boston’s Secret Stars with its heartfelt poetry and noisy recording quality. While part of the charm of PSP is its fleeting songs and lo-fi approach, there’s something to be said about an song that anchors this album in a more traditional songwriting approach. Welch-Novels’ lyrics here seem to tap into something a bit deeper – I like to think they give a bit more context to this left-field art project.
Pocket Sized Pocket is available now on Bandcamp – see the embed below.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Nick Sessanna