Video premiere: Piel, ‘Gift of Matter’

Roy Jurgens on July 15th, 2019

0

Tiki Lewis hails from the south side of Chicago, where she was steeped in musical sweet tea from an early age. Jonathan Burkes is a born and bred West Angeleno. A chance encounter at the Echo led them to conjure an eclectic musical project called Piel that hasn’t followed what most acts would consider a conventional path. Twelve years on, they are an L.A. oddity, a Westside act (a rarity in itself) that doesn’t care about fitting in among whatever is considered hipster at the moment. Piel is a band that still prefers playing underground house parties, almost eschewing the conventional club circuit.

The video for “Gift of Matter,” the lead single of their new EP “Tiki Leaks” (out July 27) fully captures what Piel is about, an ethereal maze of swirling shoegazey guitars shimmering over a stuttering techno beat as Lewis sings in a stream of consciousness. It isn’t clear what is going on here, but it’s intriguing. Burkes described the concept: “Will Falize (the director) wanted to make a video that showcased America. Being from the Netherlands, he thought the desert, old American cars and motor bikers in mysterious mission to find ‘the girl’ would be a fun way to showcase the music and Tiki and I. He wanted a film/movie approach for the video instead of a performance- or model showcase-style rock video.” Cavorting across the Mojave, Lewis’ charisma contrasts a playful jubilance that captures that celestial nature of the song.

Live, Piel is something to behold, an intoxicating stew of Electroclash, Britpop, trip hop, pop-punk, dub and psych-rock. Lewis has a penchant for losing herself in the emotion of the music, and the songs end up drawing way outside the lines. Burkes is the key to driving it along, essentially a “lead” bass player, with Chris Lopez on keys, Kenny Ramirez on drums and Yegor Mytrofanov contributing on guitar.

The present incarnation of Piel has been together since 2015, and while they’ve made some inroads within Los Angeles, they are popular in the Ukraine, of all places. Invited to tour there, they soon found themselves playing to huge crowds and booked on festivals. Burkes explains, “Yegor discovered us at The Townhouse in Venice. We were playing a night called Westside Revival (a collective of musicians dedicated to bringing rock music back to West L.A.). Yegor was taken by Tiki’s raw crowd engagement and said that people in Ukraine would love us. We went out there and opened for his band DanceParty Dance Dance.”

||| Watch: The video for “Gift of Matter”