‘Beautiful Noise’ - DIY dreamers Pynch on their successful sophomore release
- Damien Joyce
- 2 days ago
- 13 min read
Our new writer Damien Joyce (aka The Human Recommendation) chats to Spencer Enock from London four piece Pynch and finds a fiercely independent DIY streak informs the band and their latest LP Beautiful Noise
London indie lo-fi band Pynch is made up of Spencer Enock (guitar/vocals), Julianna Hopkins (drums/vocals), Scott Enock (bass), and Myles Gammon (synths). They released their sophomore album Beautiful Noise in October of last year.
I think it may have slipped under the radar of some music fans, but I love the record and I’ve played a bunch of tracks from it on my Human Recommendation radio show, on Flirt FM in Galway City, Ireland. The hook that got me into the record was their track Hanging on a Bassline and that’s remained my favourite. Other notable tracks include The Supermarket, Post-Punk/New-Wave, How You Love Someone and Microwave Rhapsody.
After much email communication and messaging, I finally got a hold of songwriter, multi- instrumentalist, producer and front man of the band Spencer Enock, to ask him how has it been since the release of the album and going on tour across the UK in support of it?
Spencer replied enthusiastically “It’s been great. So, this is our second time doing an album campaign and releasing it on our label, Chillburn Recordings. It’s been a real team effort with everyone in the band as well as we’ve got a bigger team than last time, so it’s felt like an evolution. We’ve got a wonderful manager called Gabriel Stebbing; he’s a real close friend of the band. We worked with State51 on distribution. On the first album, the physical distribution was sort of me directly emailing record stores. With some help from other friends, we managed to get it into Rough Trade and a few other record stores. But, yes, it's really nice to just have a bit more infrastructure around the project. We’re really proud of the album, we had a lot of fun making it and really feel like it’s a reflection of who we are and what we love about music.”
That sounds great and the tour across the UK, how did the songs go down live?
“It was great. We toured famously or infamously in our Škoda Fabia hatchback for most of our careers. So, this has a big backstory, but we bought a Ford Galaxy as a treat to ourselves to sort of start touring in relative luxury. We bought it from a dealer and ended up being in a protracted six-month court case. We were going to take it on tour to France last year, but the car gearbox sort of exploded on the third drive the night before the tour. Then my brother Scott, who’s on bass, taught himself how to represent the band’s interest in the magistrates' court in Leeds and miraculously fit it in along with the tracking of the tour. We had a gig in Brighton, and then two days later, we had a gig in Scotland. Then on the day in between, Scott was summoned to represent himself or the band in Leeds Magistrates' Court. It sort of worked out in a really weird way.”
Their debut album Howling at a Concrete Moon had a reference to The Simpsons’ bartender Moe’s poem, showing Enock’s sense of humour. That debut was more of a coming-of-age album, while the follow up album Beautiful Noise is about life in one's twenties, in London.
I put it to Spencer, how fiercely independent, they are ... writing and producing the album on their own label, they designed the artwork, the posters, the merch. I asked if that was a conscious decision from the start, to be independent?
“I think definitely yes. We’re passionately DIY. We’re constantly wanting to learn new things about the industry and about our craft, wanting to express ourselves in different ways and just have fun with it.
"We’ve done a lot of videos ourselves in the past as well; music videos sort of on Super eight as well. I taught myself over the past few records on how to use Photoshop. I would say it’s a key part of who we are as a band, more out of partly necessity and then partly out of just the pure love of doing it. We’re open to collaborating with people, and then when we do collaborate, they sort of get brought into the family. Then we sort of consistently collaborate with them.
"But I think there’s a few factors that go into it. A lot of the artists that we are really inspired by are sort of involved in the production of their records, and I think that was maybe phase one when we were just like, how do we even make a song sound like a recording? That was probably, like, six years ago when we started. So there was a period of really intently learning about production and mixing, then there was a period of learning how to do the visuals, learning how to manage a campaign, learning how to set up a record label, how to do invoices, all of the sort of nitty gritty stuff. I think that’s sort of a feature of being a band in the twenty-first century.
Obviously, you can get signed to a label or have a management company doing a lot for you. But often, bands that get picked up have already done a lot of that work themselves. My advice definitely to anyone starting out would not be shy away from getting involved in every aspect of your career and managing it. The more you know about it, if you’re in a position where you’re getting offered money for some of your copyrights or whatever the working relationship might be, you’re going into that conversation a lot better informed.”
You produced a lot of this record at home in your bedroom in Brixton? Not that it sounds like that. But I guess with the democratisation of music, that’s what we’ve been promised ...that it would be easier for people to make music?
“Yes, And I think so, we still recorded drums with Andy Ramsey”
From Stereolab?
“Yes! He runs an amazing studio called Press Play in Bermondsey. There’s still a lot of home recorded stuff on the first album, but we did a lot more recordings there. We probably did about ten days on the first album. This time, we did about four days of mostly drum tracking, things that we couldn’t conceivably record in my bedroom without getting evicted. But he gave us some good recommendations on some bits of equipment to buy to sort of up the level of our home recording. So, we bought a Focusrite channel strip which he recommended, which is very helpful and that improved the recordings. But I’d say a lot more of it was done at home and sort of experimenting often after work or late at night. Also, using things like Splice and bringing aspects of that workflow into it. So, it’s a labour of love over the last couple of years, I’m glad it doesn’t sound too lo-fi.”
There’s a big difference between the first record and this record. You’re all young in your twenties, but you’re all working also. Is it difficult to manage creativity and commerce?
“I think it’s just a feature of where we are as a society, as an economy, as the music industry maybe? The tools being available to everyone within reason, having a studio baked into most laptops. I think more and more is done at home. I don’t really know anymusicians that don’t work, if not full time, close to full time even if they’re signed. You hear stories of people that are very established. They’ve done a few albums on at least large independent labels that still work alongside their music. It’s not about not having to work; I think I’ve just made peace with that. I’m lucky enough to have a job that I really enjoy, alongside making music. I think that also helps to keep focused on the process and the enjoyment of it rather than getting way too bogged down in the outcome.
"Obviously, you want to make something that you’re really proud of and reflective of the hard work that’s gone into it, but I also think that definitely the periods where I’ve been least happy as a musician have been when you’re putting so much pressure on the outcome. You then lose sight of the fact that, like, oh my god I’m in the car with my best friends driving around and three years ago, I just wanted to headline a gig in my hometown sort of thing.
"Recognising the many milestones along the way and just enjoying it. But, yes, I think in an ideal world we’ve spoken about how we would love if we had more time as a band to be in the same room; we’d love to just be writing the songs together as well. A lot of the first songs, it’s been me writing the sort of chords and the lyrics and coming up with the first version, and then we workshop it. The guys add a lot to it, and we turn the song into what it is.
"But it would be cool to at least just have that freedom to be throwing ideas at each other in the same room and not be so pressured around, like.. oh, I need to get up to work tomorrow. The rehearsal space is two hours away from where I live.”
Trying to keep that creativity during your working day, is it voice messages that you’re sharing between the band? Is that the type of thing used to try and keep an idea, melody in your head?
“I mean at least for the last two albums, I’ve made a demo. A pretty fleshed out one on Logic and often will be writing while recording. Definitely try to experiment with different processes because I think that has a massive impact on the outcome of what the song of the feeling of the song. If you write the song in Logic, it’s going to feel quite different than if you’re just writing the song kneeling on an acoustic guitar. Same as if you write all of the lyrics in the notebook first before you even think about the melody, it’s going to be quite different to if you’re just humming along to some chords. But the way it’s shared is typically a demo would be sent over to the band, and then after they’ve got that, we’ll work on it in the rehearsal studio.”
Just to go back for a second, you mentioned you’re from Margate, originally?
“We’re from Ealing originally, the furthest part of West London, and then moved to Ramsgate, which is next to Margate when I was about 12 or 13. I went to secondary school in Kent, and my parents still live there, and all of our best friends are from there. That’s maybe one of the spiritual homes of the band. But Scott and I have lived in Brixton for five years now, so that’s where the bulk of these two albums sort of formulated, I guess."
It must be hard, being in the band in London with 9,000,000 people and bustling with musicians and bands, a competitive environment even just for booking shows and venues and channel spaces? Does it have a scarcity mindset with anxiety creeping in, or is there a supportive environment out there, somewhere underneath?
“In person, I’ve never really experienced being competitive. It’s only ever been supportive. Yes, when you play shows with bands, some bands you’ll get along more with than others. But I never really experienced any dickheads out on the circuit. I’d say maybe the competitiveness maybe just creeps in at least for me, if you just spend too much time on Instagram. It’s probably just jealousy if you’re like, oh, I wish we were playing we Brixton Academy, but then it’s such a childish sort of part of yourself. I don’t think it’s a scarcity mindset. I think it’s Instagram or Twitter or whatever, maybe that more than actual in person interactions, it’s only ever really been positive in my experience.”
I saw some statistics being bandied about, where commentators were talking about an 80% increase in the rents in the last eight years in London. They say 50% of after-tax income goes on accommodation and transportation, living in the capital must be a challenge?
“It’s definitely a pressure cooker. But, yes, we’ve been in the band for a while now and on the first album, were singing a lot more from a political having just graduated from university into a very uncertain economy. That felt like a very pressing thing in my life from a writing perspective. Maybe one day I’ll write about things like that again, but I didn’t feel that’s so much a factor on this on record I would say. Beautiful Noise is a lot more existential and sort of just about the absurdity of being alive. That’s all. And, yeah, make bit more at peace with the economy, I guess, just how insignificant I am.”
I guess being alive in your twenties, you’ll have to remind me because it’s been quite a while! This Life was on TV when I was in my twenties, it was a famous show on BBC2 set in London. It was about a group of twenty-something law graduates sharing a house in London and all that goes along with it. It was a great TV show! But I was just kind of curious, the album, despite all the freewheeling and dreaminess and lo fi, upbeat synths is there a slight under current of melancholy in there?
“I think it’s sort of like an optimistic melancholy or that juxtaposition between. It’s very existential, and there are a couple of songs coming to terms with lost love or your place in the world from maybe a more cosmic level. I think there’s some songs like Microwave Rhapsody or Beautiful Noise, reflecting on maybe more like religion or whether there is an afterlife or whether it matters if there is one. So, there’s some big searching questions. If you were to hang out with us as a band, I don’t think any of us are very melancholy. I think we’re all quite upbeat people.
Before we’ve written this album and then recorded it, I was thinking this is the heaviest shit in the world. This is so different from what we’ve done before and so depressing. But then anytime someone listens to our music, they’ll always say, oh, I just love it just makes me feel so upbeat and alive. I guess I can’t get away from that. Even if I think I’m writing a depressing song, it ends up being like that!”
Can you tell me a little bit more about Chillburn Recordings, the band’s own label. Is the intention just to keep it to your own band, or do you think it’ll be something that you can grow in the future?
“This is going back to earlier where you’re asking about how we fit things around work. I’d say if we were in a position where we only had to work two or three days a week, that would definitely be the main priority for us sort of building up the labor more and it being something where we can give a platform to other artists. We can sort of share what we’ve learned about the industry; I’d love to record other people as well.
"There are plans to release others. Miles, who’s joined the band in the last year or so on keys, is also a talented ambient, shoegaze musician and producer. He’s in a cool band called Faceless Kiss. He’s also just about to release a solo project, an EP that he’s been working on, and we’re going to release that on the label. So that’ll be probably the first thing we release other than Pynch on the label. I’ve also been working just on some more low-key folk songs, and I’m hoping to get maybe an EP or an album out towards the end of the year just as a different outlet. Juliana’s also in an amazing band called Disgusting Sisters with her sister there, releasing their album at some point.
"I think this is maybe a time when we’re sort of working on other things, and then we’ll be writing some stuff for the third album in the background. I’m not sure when the third album will come out. Maybe it’ll pick up some speed relatively quickly.”
I interviewed a slowcore musician this week, and I thought it was kind of fascinating because in the slowcore genre, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with this? It’s very low lo fi, almost like a lullaby, but he found a home on the Internet and moved away from the traditional release cycle of “studio - album- press release -video- radio- tour.” If he finds that he records something that he thinks is good, he’ll release it on a Friday and gets into this sort of routine of pushing music every couple of weeks, the singles and EPs. I was curious how do you feel about that?
“I think that’s an exciting way to approach it. I guess, throughout my life since being at secondary school, I’ve sort of been what you call a student of the indie genre and going back through the iconic albums. Developing as a songwriter and an artist, I’ve always had the album format quite forefront in my mind. It’s still the way that I release or that I listen to music rather than playlists; I’ve never really listened to those in the same way. Songs for me always exist in a bit of a world related to other songs. But in the past couple of years, we do have some songs that maybe didn’t make it onto an album. We’re like, that doesn’t fit into this world, but there’s still songs that we believe in. I think that’s something that we would be up to doing going forward.
"Between the first album and the second album, we didn’t release any music for two years. I think that’s maybe not the best way to do it, but I think probably as a symptom of me working so hard on releasing the album and being involved in all aspects, there was sort a hangover period of needing a break, having put in that much work, and then also needing time to write some new things. I think that is a healthy way to approach it and can take the pressure off in some ways while also having some obvious sort of fan engagement and interaction benefits.”
The slowcore artist explained to me that he just found it liberating; I found it kind of fascinating. However, I’m of the age that I still believe the album is the organising principle for music. But maybe an EP between albums? Thematically, if a song doesn’t fit an EP can be nice for fans specifically.
“I agree, we’ve never created an EP. Maybe that could be a good foray for us.”
Will there be a chance to have a few more dates to tour with Beautiful Noise, maybe a bit further field, even come over to Dublin?
“Yes, we’ve never played in Ireland. That’s something we’d love to do. I think it’s just getting the equipment over there has always been a bit of a barrier. I know there’s a ferry maybe near Liverpool that we could try. But we’d love to play in Ireland, we’ve got plans to yes. We’ve got some gigs in France coming up. Hopefully, about to confirm our first gig in Berlin. Hopefully, as well as about to confirm our first gig in Barcelona. First time in Germany and Spain. I’m sorry that they pipped Ireland to the post there, but hopefully we can get one booked in soon.”
Hopefully! There’s a couple of great and nice sized venues in Dublin; it’s a great music city to come visit and play as a band. Also, my hometown of Galway as well, another great place to come.
“Nice, I’ll mention it to our booking agent then because I don’t think we’d spoken specifically about Ireland for a while. Hopefully, we can make that happen.”
Well, great stuff and thanks very much for taking the time to talk to me today, and I wish you well with the further dates across Europe with Beautiful Noise and I hope it continues to grow.
“Thanks a lot, Damien. It’s been great speaking to you.”
You can find all Pynch details via their Instagram page
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