“A short, sharp track full of bite and momentum, letting up only for the brief lulls which punctuate intermittently, as though Stevens is taking a breath before diving back in.” That’s how we described ‘Headcrusher’ from Penny & the Pits‘ debut album Liquid Compactor back in June. A track which embodies the punk rock spirit of Penelope Stevens’s work, centred on the feminist holy trinity: joy, rage and revenge. “What results,” we continued, “is something unapologetically in your face, a style fitting for the themes which underpin it.”
Previous singles were no less striking. Take ‘Montenegro on Ice‘, a song we wrote, “lack[ing] none of the mood or bite of the Motherhood sound, Stevens matching head-banging heft with an abstract, poetic lyricism which plays like a personal journey into the strange currents and slacks of this thing we call life.” Or ‘Pool Party‘ with its mischevious combination of playfulness and sharp edges, a surf rock number which, as we put it, “tell[s] the delightfully dark story of a girl gang hell bent on revenge against the men who have wronged them.”
With the album out now via Forward Music, Penny & the Pits have returned with a video for single ‘Thick Black Gloves’ to further the album’s reach and thematic resonance. Again born of fury and the desire for retribution, the song conjures a nocturnal, off-kilter style loaded with latent threat, not only tapping into a seam of fear which will be familiar to any non-male, but also the ever-present frustration baked into such injustice. “It pisses me off so much that I can’t just walk down my own damn street without constantly scanning the shadows!” as Stevens explains. “The song is a bit of a revenge fantasy for me, but it doesn’t necessarily translate directly through the lyrics. So I really wanted to make a music video that could help augment those themes.”
Directed and edited by Nicole Cecile Holland, the video brings this to life by flipping the balance of power and centring the potential for agency and authority within the feminine experience. “I have this ridiculous leather trench coat that I wear all the time, and men often comment that I look like I’m about to commit a murder,” Stevens continues:
So the trench coat inspired the video, really. I wanted to create an atmosphere that wasn’t explicitly violent, but focused more on confidence and dominance. With this album as my first solo work, I’ve never taken the space to appreciate and utilize my own body in storytelling. I’m not exactly a red leather heel type of person, so it was really fun to step into that world and play around with a sort of weaponized femininity. Watching it back, it’s nice to see myself as sexy and scary and totally in control.
Liquid Compactor is out now via Forward Music Group and you get it from the Penny & the Pits Bandcamp page.
