Stream Pumice's New Album 'Puddles' (UTR Preview)

This weekend will see Pumice (aka Stefan Neville) unveiling his new album Puddles with an afternoon show at the Audio Foundation in Auckland. The remarkable nine-track record is coming out via Minneapolis-based label Soft Abuse and marks a change of pace for Pumice. Following the death of two loved ones, Neville took a step away from making music, and when he was ready to return he sought comfort in numbers and gathered together a group of talented friends and family to lend a hand.

Puddles includes contributions from Hermione Johnson, Claire Mahoney (It Hurts), Kraus, Leighton Craig, Tina and Sjionel (The Coolies), GFrenzy, Matthew De Gennaro and family members Indira Neville (sister), Lucy Danko (niece) and Ponzo Danko (nephew). In anticipation of the album's official release, UnderTheRadar is delighted to share a preview of Puddles, as well as a few thoughts pertaining to the album from Stefan himself...

It's hard to know exactly what counts as an "album" amongst all the music we have put out but I think Puddles is approximately the 17th Pumice album. Here are some things & thoughts that relate to its existence...........

* Puddles. She was the family dog growing up in Northland & Bay Of Plenty. That's her on the album cover. Dad would burn off her ticks with a cigar. She used to sleep in the middle of intersections where there was gravel to scratch her back. Locals got used to her but she got run over quite a lot.

* Death. My mother Hazel died 4 years ago. After that making music wasn't important so I didn't. Hazel now commands a legion of praying mantis from beyond the grave. When I did start making music again I used Hazel's big black acoustic guitar which is where most of the Puddles songs started. My friend Garbott also died. Her passing is marked by every carrot, egg, tiger & by the old Sugar Jon Arcus composition 'Medallion'. My old Small Silver guitar only made it on to one song on Puddles. It's not dead but it is completely buggered. The beautiful & horrible Kelly valve amplifier I have used since the late 90s died in a cloud of stink smoke after recording bass parts on Puddles.

* Apparently the great Kiwi's Rugby League stand off Olsen Filipaina used to have a band in the eighties called Mutilator. I heard they recorded & performed rituals in the changing sheds at Carlaw Park. With blast beats on hollow logs and corpse paint made of seagull shit & tomato sauce. Olsen had a necklace made of rival Wally Lewis' cheek bones from when he smashed his face in. Around the same time these brothers who played for Pt Chev Pirates set fire to heaps of Rugby Union clubrooms. They'd steal trophies and melt them down to make swords and studded wrist bands.

* Patience & People. I always meant to get contributors for other Pumice albums but I had no patience & would always need the instant gratification of getting things done. So I would plow on alone and race to the finish. I'm quite good at making do & coping on my own which means I'm quite good at isolating myself & losing perspective. For Puddles, making music wasn't important but my friends & family were, so I took my time and got them to help and this made Pumice mean something again.

* Instead of pressed up on the windscreen of a car I like breasts pressed up against the glasses on my face. But I get allergies so sometimes the boobs get snot on them. I think thats why Sir Mix-a-Lot prefers the windscreen actually.

* Real life. Real jobs. A real relationship. Disability & illness. Supporting a team that always loses. Babies & cats & weddings. Staying in one place. Fights & swearing. Eating properly. Sleeping properly. Doing nothing. An eternal blackhead. Reissues of teenage recordings. Ahipara. Taupaki. Hokianga. Kawhia. Matata. Hamilton East, Mt Albert. Ellerslie, Waterview. A synthesizer for xmas. A piano for my birthday. The sweet force horror and hilarity of being alive. You can't just have marshmallow, you need more meat.

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