There’s wonderful news from Pevin Kinel who today surprises us with his new full-length album titled As Seen By A Lunarian With A Telescope. Originally released only as a CD in 2019, the record now receives the worldwide release it deserves. A striking and overwhelmingly creative record, As Seen By A Lunarian With A Telescope takes cues from genres aplenty, confirming Pevin’s sprawling musical identity. With an expansive sonic palette, the ten tracks on the album are all over the map styllistically proving that the incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist and one-man-orchestra can compose in any style. As with his previous works, the new album was entirely written, recorded and produced by Pevin himself, and we find him playing all instruments, including electric and acoustic bass, electric and acoustic guitar, drums, e-drums/drum machine, glockenspiel, violin, toy piano, synth, clarinet, vocals and percussion.

Pevin had previously shared the staggeringly beautiful ‘Hemmed‘, which is featured on the album. For another taste of the sonic wizardry in store for us, listen to two new tracks from the album below, ‘Electroplating’ and ‘Medal’. And lend your ears to the whole album on his bandcamp, each listen will reward you in spades.

New music from incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist Pevin Kinel is always welcomed with excitement, even more so when it sounds as good as his brand new track ‘Komatsu SR-75’. Marking his first new music release since relocating from London to Porto, ‘Komatsu SR-75’ is a sublime and compelling track encapsulating a range of emotions. A veritable one-man-orchestra, with a flair for experimenting with different sounds and genres, on the new track he plays classical guitar, bass, clarinet, and even cardboard drums.

Pevin has shot and directed a fittingly cinematic video to accompany the track. Speaking about how the song and the video came about, he comments:

“It’s not often I lose sleep over the title of a track, but in this instance this is exactly what happened. Komatsu is one of the world’s biggest manufacturer of heavy machinery, and the SR-75 by Soilmec is an enormous hydraulic piling rig, and for the last 6 months the combination of both has been making a lot of noise, everyday from 8am to 8pm, in front of my window.

A few weeks ago I took the opportunity of the oasis of silence that is the weekend to record a series of guitar chords I’d just stumbled upon, and started layering percussions, bass and clarinets on top of it. Then to make a video I simply filmed the building site one evening.

If the song had lyrics, it would be about the fact that they’re building a tube station where there used to be a park. Now, I’m totally for more public transport but somehow it felt weird to see dozens of trees being cut down and green grass being turned to mud and concrete, in an effort to help the environment. This in turn made me think of the idea that we live in a system that can only function if it makes a margin, at the same time as we come to realise that the only margin left to make is at the expense of nature. So all in all, it’s just as well it doesn’t have lyrics, because it would have been a massive headache to make all of this rhyme.”

Watch the video for ‘Komatsu SR-75’ below.

Pevin Kinel hasn’t released an album since 2012’s Syntactic Sugars, which was one of our Album Picks of the year, and his last new material, the two-track EP SEO Your Friends, came out in 2014. Now we can rejoice as there is a follow-up in the works from the talented multi-instrumentalist and one-man-orchestra, and his first new music in four years has finally landed. Pevin has shared ‘Hemmed’, a staggeringly beautiful track, along with an accompanying video. As with previous material, shifting excitingly from release to release, and drawing from a variety of musical influences, here Pevin leans more towards a stripped down acoustic sound. He had this to say:

“You might think it’s about time I focused on recording music instead of filming music videos, well gotcha! because this is actually a brand new song from my upcoming “acousticish” album, which should come out this year, at some point. I’m usually pretty good at coming up with nerve-racking album release dates and album titles that make you go “Gee, gotta get meself one of those!”, but I’ve been kinda busy lately, so this time round you’ll have to make do with a new song “Hemmed” and the music video I made for it with some friends.”

We’ll keep our ears peeled for more details on Pevin’s upcoming album. Now watch the excellent self-directed video for ‘Hemmed’.

We’ve been eagerly waiting for Pevin Kinel to resurface with a follow-up to his outstanding Syntactic Sugars, which was one of our Album Picks of 2012 and remains a favourite. The effort was followed a couple of years later with SEO Your Friends, a marvellous and compelling A-side single featuring ‘Fifteen’ and ‘In a Way you would Care’. Although there’s no new music in sight, Pevin has shared a fittingly excellent new video for ‘Systemic Risks’, lifted from Syntactic Sugars. The London based multi-instrumentalist, who has been filming more than recording, explains how the video came about:

“About a month ago I realised I had shot enough bits and bobs to put together something bigger than your usual found footage music video. I picked the instrumental track Systemic Risks and instantly, everything became clear. Out of those random clips I would weave a complex multi-threaded narrative juxtaposing the immensity of the cosmos with the futile aspirations of man, contrast that with the heart-tugging beauty of nature, then riff about the end of the world for a bit.
I started the editing work and it quickly became apparent there was no way I would be able to tell a comprehensible story with just random bits of video. So I had to settle for that harmless found footage music video feel everybody as come to dread, but with the comforting thought that all that footage had been found on my own hard drive.”

To tide you over until Pevin releases new music, enjoy the video for ‘Systemic Risks’ below.

Last week, without any announcement, Pevin Kinel unveiled a double A-side single entitled SEO Your Friends, featuring ‘Fifteen’ and ‘In a Way you would Care’. It follows his outstanding 2012’s Syntactic Sugars, which was one of our Album Picks of the Year.
The London based multi-instrumentalist and one-man-orchestra, got us used to expect anything from him, with his flair for experimenting and exploring an immensity of musical territories. With SEO Your Friends, Pevin delivers again a fascinating and unique project crafted with a strong social conscience. Other than the excellent two singles, SEO Your Friends comes laced with a heartfelt and moving short speech by Leslie Pickering, the former spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front Press Office. The speech was extracted from the film Testify by Michael Becker and Stephen Gamboa.
Here’s the blurb Pevin wrote to accompany the release:

“You would do anything for the people you love. That’s why the couple of songs I’m releasing today come in a neat wrapping entitled “SEO Your Friends”. Because when you stop a minute and really think about it, if you go calling someone your friend and then don’t do anything to improve their ranking in Google search results, can you say you care for them at all? Can you say you have their best interests at heart? Or are you simply trying to isolate them from the world like some possesive freak? Think about this for a minute, and then, do the right thing. Show the ones you love that they truly matter to you. SEO your friends.”

The other good news is SEO Your Friends can now be streamed or download for free on his website. Get a taste of this absolute must listen with ‘Fifteen’.