I receive an E-mail from Erin Pellnat. It catches my eye one morning when I’m on the train heading into Birmingham.

“Hello Sean“, says Erin.  “I write to introduce you to “Neighborhood Boys,”  a song about falling in love with a guy on a bus — but he gets off at his stop and leaves me with the neighborhood boys on the bus.” 

There’s a beautiful simplicity about Erin’s approach. I’m not averse to deep, philosophical songs about the meaning of life but sometimes such tunes can feel complicated, aloof and emotion-less. Sometimes, you want a simple premise that’ll tug at your heartstrings a bit; you want a three minute segment from your favourite tearjerker of a film; you want glorious romance albeit of an unrequited kind.

I take a listen to Erin’s track. There’s something about her voice that gets me. There’s no over-the-top warbles or ridiculous squeezing of pitch. It’s all very considered and mannered. Yet it’s in that very understated vocal that the emotion (of which there’s plenty) comes through. In many ways, for me at least, it invokes a similar sort of feel to that I get when I listen to the late 1960’s work of Bobbie Gentry or Dusty Springfield. And that’s high praise. 

I notice when I check back through my E-mails that Erin had sent me one previously to highlight the release of her earlier EP, Dream In Color. Rudely, I’d not even replied to that. I’m glad that Erin didn’t get the hump with me for that and kept sending me mails. It pays to be persistent. 

I wonder if ultimately persistence will pay off for Erin with the guy on the bus? I guess we’ll have to watch this space!

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