‘I think that maybe the better stuff I write is often about pretty depressing subject matter, but I seem to translate all that through this sort of optimistic, upbeat, “happy” music, in order to get something positive out of that idea. I like that kind of out-of-place optimism…’
Pipsy has returned with his second single, the delightful and sunny ‘I Just Want To Give Up On You.’ A gorgeous and textured, harmonious number, ‘I Just Want To Give Up On You’ shines on so many fronts. It stands in contrast to Pipsy‘s first single ‘Why Can’t I get What I Want For Once?’ which was a far more mellow and restrained affair in comparison.
When the two singles are placed side by side, they show two distinct tones of the same artist – and both of these musical incarnations are wonderfully executed by the talented man behind the moniker, who has a clear knack for infectious songwriting. This song has all the energy of a summer anthem and maintains its infectious pace and groove for its entirety.
Pipsy is the project of former Males drummer Paul Pouwels, who is now trying out the role of frontman – and excelling at it. Paul migrated to Melbourne from New Zealand, and performs the vocals, guitars, and drums for Pipsy.
Paul has explained that the song spawned from a crumbled relationship. “Someone was being really shitty to me for a long time in my life, and suddenly I thought one day ‘oh, maybe I should just stop trying so hard to make this work’. It was a huge relief actually. So I wrote the song about that, while I was in this other band, called Males. After that band ended, (unrelated!) I thought, ‘why don’t I try to make a record where I play as much as I can – drums, guitar, vocals, and just put something out, it’ll be fun.’ I think I only did two takes of the drums for this track, as it was so intense – it felt like running a sprint or something. In the end we used the second take. Thankfully I got it quick or I would have probably collapsed and barfed.’
In relation to the way that ‘I Just Want To Give Up On You’ set the table for the Pipsy project to unravel, essentially being the driving force being the inception of it, Paul explains that ‘it was the first song I wrote for all this. I wrote it as kind of a Ramones-meets-bubblegum pop thing. What I didn’t know at the time was that it would really set the tone for the Pipsy stuff – that loud, frantic, but still (a) melodic pop thing.’ Check out the track below, and follow Pipsy on Facebook here.
