Pumice, Puny (side A)

Pumice is New Zealand's Stefan Neville, and his coupling of lo-fi recording techniques with melodic songs places him squarely in a tradition of Kiwi songwriters.  The liner notes thank Chris Knox, and Neville drummed for Knox, but his work here as Pumice is far less overtly catchy than Knox's typical creations.  The vocals do follow lilting pop melodies vaguely reminiscent of Donovan, but the backing instrumentation does not follow the harmonic arc of the melody, and instead creates a more messy foundation.  Pumice keeps these slightly-chaotic arrangements simple, with enough space for his often-distorted palette.  Diverging from the vocal songs is the extended instrumental "Trophy", with a simple droning keyboard melody that loosely recalls Donovan's "Peregrine", only without the vocals.  The professional mastering thins the dense midrange of the lo-fi recording, and makes 2012's Puny sound a bit more like a commercial indie rock release.  The slightly blurry black-and-white cover photo nicely meshes with the music's smeary content.