Pinky Pinky; the band so nice, they named it twice! Don’t let the cutesy name fool you, the LA based trio have coined their name from a mythical South African monster used to scare young girls from wearing pink. While the outfit’s jangly indie-pop is sweet on the surface, there’s a melancholy waiting to be unearthed, like a playful beast lurking in the shadows.

To follow up the three piece’s first two EPs ‘Hot Tears’ and a self-titled effort; Pinky Pinky have readied a debut record ‘Turkey Dinner’, an album that’s bound together by the minimal elements of drums, bass, guitar and vocals. There is the occasional brass flourish or an additional layer of percussion but on the whole, the band’s first long player is a stripped back affair.

There’s a youthful candour to ‘Turkey Dinner’ and this is something that’s interwoven throughout Pinky Pinky’s debut; from the jingle-jangle of ‘Lady Dancer’ a song about curious character, who uses her body to entertain and where “fluorescent light reflections kiss her skin”. ‘Mr Sunday’s breezy refrain is the vehicle for a delicate bass rumble and Anastasia Sanchez’s falsetto vocal, as the lead singer declares “oh he is always testing me”. The notions of amour ripple through Pinky Pinky, like skimming stones on a placid lake; ‘If It Didn’t Hurt’ is the tale of one-sided love over a woozy concoction of organ and psyche guitar. Sanchez will plead to an unnamed suitor “I will give you every part of me/would you give me just a piece of you.” Infatuation simmers close to boiling point on opening track ‘My Friend Sean’, a slinky guitar line and tip, tapping drums recounts, Sean, an object of Sanchez’s affection “oh there he goes/he’s just the best-looking guy I know”. The song gradually speeds up as the band’s singer/drummer catches the eye of Sean, setting pulses racing and hearts fluttering. A country hue wafts gently through ‘Applecheeks’, a song so laidback, it’s like an afternoon stroll. There’s a tender longing to be found amongst the lonesome slide guitar and lolloping bass, as Sanchez announces, “I countdown the days until he comes back to me”. Whereas the rough ‘n’ ready ‘All The Birds’, buoyed by jerky cowbell strikes and a rusty guitar motif infiltrates the feelings of fucking things up ever so slightly “oh God I really blew it this time.”

Playful but not to be messed with, ‘Turkey Dinner’ is an album you’ll happily go back for second helpings of.

Words and Thoughts of Adam Williams

Turkey Dinner is now out via Innovative Leisure