Album Review: Geronimo! by Piney Gir

After tackling electronica with her mid-2000s debut and the sounds of Nashville with her Country Roadshow project, Kansas-born, London-based singer/songwriter Piney Gir continues to develop her chameleon-like career with her fifth studio album, Geronimo!, a collection of songs seemingly inspired by the jukebox joints of the '60s. With an impressive array of guest musicians on board, including members of Brian Wilson's band and the Beatles' regular brass section, its 13 tracks certainly come equipped with the right credentials, but luckily Gir's obvious fondness for the era ensures that the material does justice to the esteemed behind-the-scenes team. Renowned for her cutesy vocal delivery, Gir was never going to have any trouble pulling off the Spector-esque girl group harmonies of "Friends and Neighbors," the sugary West Coast pop of "Oh Lies," or the jangly Bangles-ish "Here's Looking at You.

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Angela Penhaligon, from Kansas, though long settled in London, isn't afraid to swap styles. Her debut album dealt in electronic music, before she formed Piney Gir's Country Roadshow and put her money on twangy guitars. Her fifth album, by contrast, takes its cues from mid-60s pop, with a hint of new wave. The opening pair of Outta Sight and Here's Looking at You are spritely and brisk, guitars fizzing and jangling, and uncluttered enough for Gir's clean, true voice to mix sweet and tart.

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There’s a very fine line between twee and twaddle and [b]Angela Penhaligon[/b] is walking it with decidedly wonky balance. The Kansas native may have made a name for herself as the ‘talented’ one from extinct foghorns [b]The Schla La Las[/b], but with tracks such as the insipid ‘[b]Oh Lies[/b]’, standards seem to have slipped somewhat. On ‘[b]The Gift[/b]’ Penhaligon whines “[i]I have a gift that just keeps on giving[/i]” but it would seem that something’s got lost in the post.

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A fifth set from the Brit-based Kansas girl, which finds her expanding her palette. John Aizlewood 2011 What a delightfully contrary woman Angela ‘Piney Gir’ Penhaligon is. She's not in her native Kansas anymore – in fact, she's lived in London for over a decade – but she sounds as if she's barely set foot out of her front door. The 13 tracks of this fifth album – recorded in Los Angeles – come and go in under 40 minutes, but whereas once she sounded so country she almost edged into the parody territory (and still does on the first half of The Gift, where she chances a yodel, which Swiss listeners may not find wholly authentic) once inhabited by the long-forgotten Boothill Foot-Tappers, now she's expanding her palette.

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