As Australia’s independent music-makers attract some overdue notice in North America, Pikelet should not be overlooked. Sharing a label with Twerps and Beaches, Evelyn Morris’ project has grown from loop-based solo recordings (“A Bunch” was a bewitching standout from her 2007 debut) to expansive, full-band space-rock. Calluses, due out August 2 on Chapter Music, is the follow-up to 2010’s Stem, which was on the shortlist for the Australian Music Prize, the Down Under equivalent of the U.K. Mercury Prize. First advance track “Pressure Cooker,” a rich, introspective kosmische workout, includes a dolefully repeated lyric about “darker days,” but it glimmers with continued promise. “We are not alone,” Morris sings, although sci-fi synths notwithstanding, she isn’t referring to UFOs: “We have each other / We’ll carry on.”
