Exhibit 46. in the case against writing end of year lists before the year has, in fact, ended... Pumice's latest, something close to their twentieth record(?), actually seems to have gone under the radar in most places, which i suppose is both kind of the story of the band as a whole and also faintly ridiculous. A product of the NZ underground too weird & abstruse for Flying Nun, Pumice channel an of elegiac form of folk music that explores elements of noise, drone and art-rock, while retaining at its centre a tacit wholesomeness - under the covers, there's wood and twine holding those machines together. Table is something i've come back to time and time again this week because it contains this wonderful ability to push off into the outer reaches of form without ever sacrificing feeling, radiating a gentle beauty in the noise of its experimentalism. The room honestly seems to get warmer in its presence. This might have missed our end of year round up because of the timing of its release, but this is a record perfectly suited to the depths of winter, something to group around, to be collectively warmed by. Gold standard.
