Melbourne-based singer/songwriter Bec Sykes takes us track-by-track by way of her dreamy, achingly tender debut album ‘Pepperpot Magic,’ a fantastically intimate, softly stirring alt-folk document of uncooked human connection, trauma, heartache, and therapeutic.
for followers of Large Thief, Angie McMahon, Winten, Julia Jacklin
Stream: “Final to Know” – Bec Sykes
‘Pepperpot Magic’ is my life: It’s the unexplainable emotions that I can solely categorical by way of music. It’s my means of claiming that magic and artwork can occur within the suburbs.
It takes a positive hand and a gentle coronary heart to rework the mild into the dramatic, and vice versa.
And on her debut album, singer/songwriter Bec Sykes embodies that deft, confident puppet master-like persona; she turns into the one pulling the strings, each of the guitar and coronary heart selection, channeling her innermost feelings into breathtakingly intimate and susceptible moments of uncooked human connection and visceral self-expression. A dreamy, achingly tender alt-folk triumph, Pepperpot Magic is a good looking document of catharsis and confession, reckoning and reflection: Of a physique’s journey by way of trauma, heartache, and therapeutic, all put by way of a gently dramatic, softly spellbinding soundtrack.
Known as me in my lodge room After the present
I used to be pleased to listen to your voice
Plastered, I used to be too naive
To even know
A elaborate dinner for my birthday
I’d’ve been pleased with Thai and cake
Who’d have guessed, we by no means went
No card, no candles, no name
I’m the final to know
You continue to need me in your life
I’m the final to know
You’re reducing it positive
It will’ve been good to know
What occurred to you final evening
I’m the final to know
You’re reducing it positive til I’m saying goodbye
– “Final to Know,” Bec Sykes
Launched November 6, 2024, Pepperpot Magic aches in and out as Bec Sykes spills her soul for 36 unflinchingly trustworthy minutes of musical heat and surprise. The Naarm/Melbourne singer/songwriter has established herself as one to look at over the previous 4 years by way of stirring performances stuffed with ardour and ache, opening for artists like Telenova, Jem Cassar-Daley, Mia Wray, Teenage Dads, Didirri, Josh Pyke, and Katy Steele. Sykes additionally gained Melbourne document label Pieater’s 2019 ‘Pie College’ competitors and the 2020 Josh Pyke Partnership, each of which helped open doorways and alternatives, all of which have led as much as this long-awaited longform introduction.
As Sykes herself explains, this ‘album’ in its present kind was wholly sudden. “In June final yr I went into the studio to document 4 songs with Robert Muinos – ‘Joshua’, ‘I Know What You Like’, ‘Caroline,’ and one other track that went within the bin,” she tells Atwood Journal. “I booked two days at Rob’s studio, the Rat Shack, and known as on a few of my favorite musicians in Naarm/Melbourne to play within the band – Matt Dixon (pedal metal guitar), Bradley Ellis (electrical guitar), Ronan Nicholson (bass) and Sam Raines (drums). We recorded the band beds stay and ended up smashing out all of the songs on the primary day, so Rob was like ‘do you have got some other songs?‘ I went house and dug up ‘Marlene’ and ‘Paint the Home Gray,’ and completed off the lyrics for ‘Crow Music’ and ‘Final to Know,’ and we recorded them the following day.”
“By then, to my nice shock, we had seven songs, so I used to be decided to maintain writing. I enlisted the assistance of Ronan, who helped me end ‘Six’ and co-wrote ‘Do You Dream in Color.’ It took a couple of months to write down the ultimate two. All of the songs had been written between my brother’s home in Glen Huntly, my place in Croydon South on the time, and my sister’s home in Bayswater the place my upright piano lives. The album was written at a time after I had fairly debilitating nervousness about well being and germs which knowledgeable many of the songs both straight or not directly.”
Once I was seventeen
I believed all the things
Would begin to float as much as the sky
Ships and boats, the railway line
Would wind between the clouds
With dangerous males screaming out
That they couldn’t get down
Inform me, I’ll imagine it
I used to be a bit of clay
That you simply each carved into a lady
Your fears underneath the highlight
As your fingers moulded mine
Once I look down at my arms
I can nonetheless see myself
Earlier than I requested for assist
Ooooh Marlene
It acquired higher higher higher higher
Ooooh Marlene
It wasn’t the life for me
Whereas Pepperpot Magic’s eleven songs could not have all come from the identical time, they unequivocally come from the identical place.
“I used to be by no means planning to make a full size album; it kinda crept up on me,” Sykes admits. “I knew I needed to work with Rob as a result of the opposite information he’d made sounded a bit bizarre. Once I advised him this, he took it as a praise. I’m a recovering double vocal addict, and after we began monitoring vocals I used to be like ‘I WANT TO SOUND LIKE ENYA,’ however Rob was like, ‘I feel this track ought to have single observe vocals with no BVs.’ There was a little bit of push and pull, however in the end as soon as I heard the vocal recordings, I realised Rob had captured my voice so properly that plenty of the time it didn’t want a double to fatten it up. Rob was actually eager to document issues stay, which I used to be tentative about at first. I hadn’t performed with a band that a lot and didn’t have plenty of confidence in my timing. It was a very empowering expertise to document the songs stay. ‘Paint the Home Gray,’ ‘Sculpture,’ and ‘Joan of Arc’ all have stay vocals, which I by no means thought I’d do.”
Sykes candidly describes Pepperpot Magic as mild, grounded, and pensive. For her, this album is a defining introduction not simply to her artistry, however to her very humanity.
“On the document, the vocals and lyrics are on the forefront and the instrumentation is restrained,” she displays. “I really feel like I’m lastly making the music that I’ve all the time needed to make. Within the recordings I’m singing softly which makes the tracks really feel actually intimate. We tracked the vocals with out headphones, so I felt much less inhibited and I used to be singing the way in which I’d sing at house. It’s much less of a efficiency and extra like I’m sharing my secrets and techniques with a pal.”
The album’s title takes its title from a now-defunct fairy/occult store in Sykes’ hometown suburban Naarm/Melbourne.
“Years in the past, my sister was on name when her greatest pal was going into labour,” she recollects. “At 4 AM, her cellphone rang, and in her disoriented state she picked up and answered, ‘Good afternoon, Pepperpot Magic.’ This was the title of the fairy/occult store in Boronia (my hometown, an outer suburb of Melbourne) that she labored at within the ‘90s (my sister is 20 years older than me).”
“As quickly as I heard that story, I knew it was the title of the album. The songs are about breaking apart with a scientist and abandoning my Christian upbringing, so ‘Pepperpot Magic’ feels becoming in a playful, rebellious kind of means. ‘Pepperpot Magic’ is my life. It’s the unexplainable emotions that I can solely categorical by way of music. It’s my means of claiming that magic and artwork can occur within the suburbs.”
Highlights abound on the journey from “Marlene” to “Paint the Home Gray” as Sykes brings her delicate contact to moments of wrestle and strife, self-discovery and interpersonal connection.
“I like ‘I Know What You Like,’” the artist smiles. “The band nailed the groove and the textures and it has simply the correct quantity of creepiness. It’s actually satisfying to me that the track captures the unsettled feeling I felt after I wrote it. Once I write songs, I’m all the time attempting to seize a selected feeling however it doesn’t all the time translate so properly.”
“‘Six’ can also be a favorite. Rob recorded the nylon string guitar utilizing a pair of headphones because the mic, which was a spotlight of recording.”
As for her lyrics, Sykes has a number of standouts – every of which captures a special facet of her expressive storytelling skills:
“I used to be a bit of clay that you just each carved into a lady / your fears underneath the highlight as your fingers moulded mine“
“1 / 4 tab of LSD / I don’t wanna climb that household tree / no that’s not the life for me“
“With you I’d paint the home gray / spend a day deciding on the shade“
“Sitting on the bar with my seatbelt on“
Finally, Pepperpot Magic is the form of album that we’ll cherish for years to return, because of its tender contact, its emotional depth, its people heat, and its brutal, aching magnificence.
Sykes hopes her music brings calm and luxury to those that want it most.
“Many of the songs had been written as a self-soothing mechanism, so I hope in addition they deliver consolation to those that hear,” Sykes shares. “The document not solely appears like an accomplishment for me as an artist, but additionally for me personally. It’s taken plenty of child steps with my nervousness to get to the purpose of having the ability to document and launch music. I actually wrestle making selections, and I’ve needed to make a LOT prior to now yr or so. I’ve grow to be a professional. Making this album has been a superb problem for my perfectionism.”
Expertise the total document through our beneath stream, and peek inside Bec Sykes’ Pepperpot Magic with Atwood Journal as she takes us track-by-track by way of the music and lyrics of her debut album!
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:: stream/buy Pepperpot Magic right here ::
:: join with Bec Sykes right here ::
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Stream: ‘Pepperpot Magic’ – Bec Sykes
:: Inside Pepperpot Magic ::
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Marlene
I wrote “Marlene” after I was reflecting on my non secular upbringing. I used to be listening to Laura Jean’s ‘Teenager Once more’ lots, and in hindsight I subconsciously borrowed the primary line ‘Once I was seventeen.’ What adopted was a stream of consciousness about my deepest fears as an adolescent – the rapture occurring and the world ending, and pondering I’d by no means make it to maturity. It’s additionally about inheriting nervousness and excessive cautiousness, and realising how a lot that has formed my selections (or lack thereof). The track is in the end a celebration. I made it.
Final to Know
This one might be the least cryptic track on the album. It’s about quietly giving up on a relationship after being let down too many instances. Within the studio we acquired heaps completed on the primary day, so I went house that evening and furiously searched my voice memos to see if there have been some other songs we may document. I discovered the concept for “Final to Know,” wrote the remainder of the lyrics from outdated diary entries, and we recorded it the following day.
I Know What You Like
I wrote this track after I was housesitting in Glen Huntly for about six months. It was my first time residing by myself and I felt tremendous inventive as a result of I didn’t have to fret about folks listening to me sing whereas I used to be attempting to write down. I Know What You Like is about feeling unsettled when somebody you’re in a brand new relationship with exhibits their true colors, however giving them the advantage of the doubt since you’re in love with them.
Do You Dream in Color
I co-wrote this track with my bass participant, Ronan Nicholson, and the lyrics sparked from a dialog about social nervousness. I so badly wish to join with folks, however I discover it so onerous to open up. I feel the track is about feeling pissed off as an introvert in regards to the stress to be social, telling myself it’s okay to remain in my shell, but additionally feeling fairly lonely and remoted typically.
Six
My older brother John died when he was sixteen. I wrote this track as an act of empathy for my Dad. Final yr Dad needed to go to hospital (he’s positive now) and when he was behind the ambulance the paramedic requested him what number of children he had. Already in a susceptible state, he burst into tears. Later he advised me that story and he stated he by no means is aware of what to say when folks ask him that query.
Sculpture
Sculpture was one of many final songs I wrote for the album. I discover it actually onerous to speak in regards to the bizarre issues I get anxious about. This track is about leaning in the direction of the individual I like and letting them see all of the yucky elements of me.
Joan of Arc
My boyfriend left my guitar in an alternate tuning and this track got here out. This was the final track I wrote for the album and I feel it’s some of the trustworthy songs I’ve ever written. It’s about guilt and nervousness and forgiving myself and deciding to not be a martyr.
Joshua
I used to be seeing this man who would by no means come to my home. I used to be such a sucker, I’d all the time find yourself going to his place and I agreed to catsit for him on a number of events. One time after I taken care of his cats for like every week, he acquired again and requested if I wouldn’t thoughts going house to sleep in my very own mattress that evening. I wrote this track in a single sitting.
Caroline
Caroline is about being jealous of the love one other individual acquired from somebody who didn’t deal with me very properly. In hindsight I used to be partially in denial after I wrote this track.
Crow Music
Crow Music is a diary entry about falling in love with somebody who misplaced a guardian two months into the connection. They pulled away and it felt like they dropped off the face of the earth. The track is about me attempting to be affected person however feeling very lovesick.
Paint the Home Gray
Paint the Home Gray is about entertaining the concept of settling down and surrendering to the suburban dream. I wrote it after my pal introduced she was pregnant and a bunch of different associates had been getting engaged or married. Up till that time I used to be fairly judgemental of individuals in my life who appeared like they had been simply going by way of the motions of what society expects you to do. I really feel like not wanting children or a “regular” life was a part of my identification, however I shocked myself after I realised part of me desires that sense of consolation and safety too.
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:: join with Bec Sykes right here ::
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© Jeff Andersen Jnr.
Pepperpot Magic
an album by Bec Sykes
