Murfreesboro “local-fi” bedroom-rock artist Andrew Pinson has had a strong, productive 2021, rapidly scatter-releasing teasers, singles, an EP and a full-length album under the stage name Piglett.
The producer-singer-songwriter released a six-track, self-titled debut EP, Piglett, on Bandcamp in January, which stood alone in its DIY awesomeness for less than two months before the Pinkerton to his Piglett, the 32-minute follow-up, Full Length Album, was released in March. (The two albums are similar in sound, but differ lyrically. Piglett also covers Taylor Swift on Piglett, which is pretty sweet.)
Full Length Album stands as a nostalgic head-nod to the lo-fi, garage-rock days (bedroom-rock, for 2021) of the early Weezer, Pixies and Jayhawks albums, with shout-outs to Soundtrack of Our Lives (on tracks “LA, TN” and “Memory”), Built to Spill (“All of Her,” “White Lights”) and They Might Be Giants (“I Love Who You’ve Become [A Little Keyboard Song]”) tweaked into the release.
Lyrically, Piglett explores processing the emotional depth of teenage angst, similarly heard in other DIY-producers such as Fort Worth’s Day Glow. Pinson nails Full Length Album’s overall sentiment with the Cali-grunge “Built to Last” lyric I can’t process words that fast . . . thus, Andrew found women.
Vocally, over the Weezer/Pixies musicality and pertaining to production quality as well, Piglett seemingly leans towards a throwback to The Jayhawks’ dual vocals, be it intentional or not. If not, Piglett seemed to be layering on harmony vocals to his lead that wound up sounding like The Jayhawks’ dual vocal approach, post-production.
Piglett threw in some surprises in with “Home Bound,” wandering into The Go! Team’s enthusiastic Thunder, Lightning, Strike territory; “White Light” incorporates a cacophonous Sonic Youth vibe, and “LA, TN” dives into a missed home harboring a left love, which makes sense if Pinson has recently moved to Middle Tennessee from California.
And that’s what Full Length Album is here for: processing high school love and life through the lens of Weezer and The Pixies.
An additional single, “Pork and Beans,” perhaps razes the fence for the “Greener” pastures of a third album, as, “LA, TN,” did for Full Length Album.
The kid’s in motion, I tell ya, and he processes words just fine.
“This rock project, Piglett, is the first of several creative outputs from the heart of Andrew Pinson. He is solely responsible for every note, beat and lyric (covers are the exception). This is what happens when forced isolation meets unbridled want,” said Piglett management (the artist’s father, Stephen Pinson).
Stream Piglett’s Full Length Album at piglett.bandcamp.com.
