Pizzagirl drops ‘yesterday’ as the last preview of debut album ‘first timer’, out on Friday
PIZZAGIRL releases lazy, melancholic single ‘yesterday’ as the final taste of debut album ‘first timer’ before it drops this Friday via Heist or Hit
Photo Credit: Neelam Khan Vela
Pizzagirl – ‘yesterday’
“Blending the AM-radio aesthetic of Ariel Pink with FM-fidelity 80s pop” The Guardian “Pizzagirl makes music that sounds like all your fave 80s movies” Noisey“Ambitious ’80s-tinged pop” NME
Pizzagirl, or Liam Brown to give his off-screen name, has fine-tuned his hyperactive DIY-pop to an esoteric art. The result is technicolour debut album ‘first timer’, out on October 11th via Heist or Hit (Her’s, Baywaves, Honey Moon). It’s a triumph in world-building and split-personality genre jumping that’ll have you bopping, laughing and crying before the closing credits. Introverted in daily life, Liam uses Pizzagirl as a flamboyant alter-ego – the tracks across the album are different costumes for him to wear, reflecting different moods and emotions, expressed as loose vignettes tied together as a complete whole.
Sometimes songs are autobiographical to varying degrees, of his own life and sentiments, and sometimes they’re entirely fanciful. The outcome is an uncanny but internally coherent alternative reality with Pizzagirl as the off-kilter protagonist.
Across 10 tracks he connects the dots between 80s John Hughes soundtracks, the oddball-pop flair of Ariel Pink, and New Wave icons David Byrne, DEVO. He also takes cues from a similar bedroom-pop space, defined by his own rules, as Clairo, Gus Dapperton or Brad Stank. The approach exemplifies a typical pop cultural magpie approach of Gen Z’ers.
First single ‘body biology’ is inspired by the bubble, fizz and pop of campy science flicks, album opener ‘ball’s gonna keep on rollin’ follows a roller-coaster search for showbiz and ‘daytrip’ juxtaposes a colourful, jokey sonic template against dark themes of spiking someone with hallucinogens.
Irresistible earworm ‘dennis’, and ‘yesterday’ are a sunny, lackadaisical end to side-A, teaming up with side B opener ‘library’ to provide a chirpy central trio. ‘thispartysux’ is an homage to Kelly Clarkson before ‘ugly’ and ‘cut and paste’ bring the tone down, before the blissful ‘goodnight’, a duet with South Korean singer Aseul closes the book.
Champions of Pizzagirl at press come in the form of national broadsheets in The Guardian or The Sunday Times, pop-culture touchstones in Noisey (Vice), i-D, Clash and Highsnobiety as well as cutting edge indie stalwarts NME, DIY, DORK and The Line of Best Fit. Radio wise too DJs are lining up to call themselves fans, with the UK’s most trusted ears in Annie Mac, Jack Saunders and Huw Stephens at BBC Radio 1 and Lauren Laverne, Shaun Keaveny and Radcliffe & Maconie at BBC 6 Music all backing his tracks.
The live show is part one-man band exhibition, and part demob happy TV host veering dangerously off-script. Pizzagirl flicks easily between danceable funky pop jams, cheesy karaoke and touching, emotive song-writing, all whilst delivering surreal jokes and anecdotes. This show will be taken around the UK and Europe this November in support of the record (dates below).
first timer is out on October 11th via Heist or Hit.
Pre-order here: https://orcd.co/pizzagirl
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first timer Tracklisting
- ball’s gonna keep on rollin’
- daytrip
- body biology
- dennis
- yesterday
- library
- thispartysux
- ugly
- cut and paste
- goodnight (feat. Aseul)
Live Dates
14th October – Rough Trade, Bristol (in-store)15th October – Rough Trade, Nottingham (in-store)21st November – Auster-Club, Berlin22nd November – Yuca, Cologne23rd November – Le Pop-Up du Label, Paris24th November – Upstairs at Paradiso, Amsterdam26th November – The Shacklewell Arms, London27th November – Yes (Basement), Manchester28th November – Phase One, Liverpool30th November – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds
