George Pringle
I can easily imagine someone reacting very negatively to George Pringle. The pleasure of another middle-class white girl archly proclaiming the unbearable pain of her trivial problems to the world in an over-stylised and self-consciously literate manner is one I can easily imagine not all people sharing. Look at her stuff through the worst lens and it is really a bit self-indulgent. Then again, look at anything we do, not least this blog, through that lens and you’d probably get much the same thing.
I do not see her work that way at all, however. In fact, I bloody love it – I think she’s brilliant. Sure, it’s highly stylised, but it’s humourous and entertaining, affecting most of the time, and an absolute pleasure to listen to. She calls herself a diseuse, which means in practise that she makes laptop sounds and talks over the top of them. Bluntly put, that’s almost all there is to it. Samples, loops, skittering beats, and on top of it all, constantly, her plaintive voice talking away to you – sometimes keen, sometimes wan, but somehow always rather fascinating.
A lot of her work, in some vague sense, reminds me of the slower moments of Tiger Bay-era Saint Etienne. I saw her perform at Cabaret Voltaire a year or more ago and she basically just played her iPod and talked, all the while looking like the slightest heckle or snigger and she might burst into tears. It was oddly compelling. In fact that might be how I’d describe her music in general: oddly compelling. She does employ some singing, and has a lovely voice when she does, but for the most part her songs are simply spoken word. The lyrics are something of a stream of consciousness, for the most part. Although she does occasionally employ poetic techniques, particularly in terms of generating rhythm through image and alliteration and the odd deliberately turned phrase, generally it sounds naturally conversational in terms of actual structure.
Her delivery is often quite deadpan, with hints of quiet desperation and the odd burst into slightly over-wrought emotion and yet for all it’s a very carefully assembled style, it does somehow manage to sound sincere, funnily enough. Actually, this may be why I like it: it’s arch, but it’s not distant. She has a self-released album on the verge of hitting the digital shelves (September 7th) and I am really interested to hear what it sounds like. I can’t imagine how she’d sustain anything that long without risking a certain uniformity of sound, but if it’s as good as it might be then it could be really rather brilliant.
George Pringle – Carte Postale
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George Pringle – Kill Her if You Can, Loverboy
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You do realize you’ve silenced us all by telling us that:
a. she’ll likely burst into tears at being heckled
b. We’ll likely think her work is as self indulgent as blog writing
c. you love her
so, bound and gagged as I am, I thought I’d state the obvious just to piss you off, darling xoxo
(oh and I can’t listen yet as I’m in the car anyway, lol) kisses
I’m with you on this one Toad, I really like her she released an extravagantly packaged ep at the tail end of last year which was rather good and a brilliant single entitled LCD I Love You But Your Bringing Me Down.
cough, hhhmmm, well, after what Tart has highlighted, i’ll tread carefully.
Not my cup of tea, tho i do see some remix potential with the music, the voice just keeps pressing my annoyance button.
Well I wasn’t trying to imply that people shouldn’t say so if they don’t like it – I’m sure she’s not a baby.
No, but she’s a babe.
Hubba hubba.
Jesus Dylan!
I love this a lot.
I wouldn’t call him Jesus, John the Baptist, MAYBE. But that’s a huge stretch, his premonitions aren’t that keen are they? Babe, indeed.
She’s a babe and so am I and Jesus.
And probably John the Baptist too.
John the Babe-tist.
At least it made my 13 year old stop bugging me…although she did play Hey Monday very freakin load as an act of revenge….
‘Anyone can do that’ and ‘God dad it’s killing me’ were her parting comments.
I like this. I wonder about an entire album’s worth but… these two tracks = big thumbs-up.
Reminds me of the spoken word stuff Ben Watt has on his Buzzin’ Fly compilations (like that tune with Estelle). But instantly reminded me of a later period St Etienne track, “Finisterre”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaoFJzV-eWQ
I wonder about a whole album’s worth as well. I am looking forward to it, but just a little tentatively.
I really like George Pringle! Fact! She does some amazing vocals on an Errors track called Cutlery Drawer, which is brilliant!
I did see her at Cab Vol a year or so ago though, and I wasn’t too impressed with her live show. I’m sure she must be better now though.
And agree, that in fact, she is a babe.
I love George Pringle! Iv been listening to her since the days when she had her first few demos up on myspace. She’s fab. Her album will be too.
Enjoying your words sir. Although she is influenced by other rock bands I don’t think it’s fair to judge her live performances by conventional pop/rock show standards. It bizarre to think that being shy onstage should be a negative. Also I think her work needs to be judged in a literary and sociological sense as opposed to merely a musical outlook in order to be truly appreciated. She’s unique as far as I’m concerned. And unabashed too.
Is that self indulgent enough for you yuppie fucks out there? Go and buy some more Kings of Leon records.
Looking forward to hearing the album, hope she has kept a tinge of the concept idea. I disagree with the uniformed aspect you allude to. I believe if something’s worth doing, then it’s worth doing again and again and again.
I think you’re right about having enjoy this on a slightly different basis, especially live. The comment about her shyness wasn’t a criticism though, it was more concern for how much she would even enjoy performing live, given it seemed to put her under a fair bit of stress.