You might think that the satisfaction that comes from being one quarter of one of Oklahoma’s biggest bands would be enough to quell anyone’s musical appetite, that the feeling of international success and respect would adequately feed the need for more songwriting, more performance, and more vulnerable, open-hearted storytelling.
But if that were true, we wouldn’t have LABRYS.
As the bassist of Oklahoma indie-psych breakouts Broncho, Penny Pitchlynn has dropped some of the scene’s widest reaching releases and traveled the world opening for legends like Billy Idol and even playing the mammoth O2 Arena in London supporting Queens of the Stone Age.
But Pitchlynn can’t seem to outrun her need to dig down deep and offer up her own songs that are wholly and uniquely hers.
The result is LABRYS, simultaneously an alter-ego, a high-energy live band, and a singularly driven solo effort that already seems to long since transcended a simple side project.
Penny Pitchlynn: I felt the call to share myself in a really, real way, and I had to kind of start planting my own seeds with not really any major plans or visions for where it was going to go other than, like, I just knew I needed to put a foot in front of the next foot, you know, and keep doing that.
Because, yeah, I would drown otherwise.
Brett Fieldcamp: Pitchlynn was no stranger to the solo singer-songwriter world, of course, having spent years in both the Tulsa and Norman scenes writing considerably more folk-tinged acoustic music and performing under the name Penny Hill.
But when it came time to confront the new songs brewing in her head after years with Broncho, it was a surprisingly different, darker sound that emerged.
Penny Pitchlynn: I just wanted to be loud and I knew I needed to be loud.
Starting with like the EP, I was starting to access a lot of that energy, and then it just, I kind of just ran with it.
Brett Fieldcamp: That energy caught on quickly, priming Pitchlynn for a double appearance at what would become the ill-fated 2020 installment of the South by Southwest showcase in Austin.
But before that opportunity even arose, she was rocked by tragedy, losing her younger sibling to an act of gun violence, sending her further into depression and into musical escape.
Penny Pitchlynn: After that, I really leaned in to music, like immediately, really leaned into the songs I had been writing. I had to get in the studio. Had to just, you know, I was kind of like “I'm living for two people now.”
So I just wanted to, like, get it done and do it well and not give up. So yeah, I was like, put it all out there in the studio, and I was going to go to South By that year, both with Broncho and LABRYS. So I was like, holding space for this, like, horrible tragedy, and then also all these, like potent possibilities simultaneously.
And then South By was canceled. I was like, oh, okay, you can't escape this grief through productivity. So I spent the rest of 2020, I got sober and started doing a lot of inner work, and which also involves a lot of writing for me too. So yeah, just sort of, the path unfolded, I guess, as I started like taking the steps forward. And that was helpful, because I could have sat on that for years
Brett Fieldcamp: Rather than sitting on her grief and on the songs it had been spawning, she began dropping a multi-year string of singles, with tracks being featured prominently in the FX series “Reservation Dogs” and buzz continuing to build throughout the reopening, post-pandemic world.
Those singles would eventually be compiled into the debut full-length album from LABRYS titled “10:10” in tribute to her sibling.
With the album release and a national, full-band tour now behind her, LABRYS has already become a marquee name in the Oklahoma scene and is set to headline the Opolis in Norman on Friday, November 8th in what will be her final show of a long 2024 before preparing for the imminent and long-anticipated return of Broncho.
But going forward from here, Pitchlynn believes that she’s finally found a home for all the songs that keep clawing their way into the world, no matter what triumphs or tragedies rear their heads.
Penny Pitchlynn: I kind of have kept it this really near and dear thing, because it is so personal to me. As long as I keep doing it relatively consistently, I think I'll just be staying what I am.
I don't know. I feel like I've kind of gained the momentum that I probably was looking for. It's such a different experience than what I experience with Broncho that I really I do appreciate getting to ping pong back and forth between the two.
And I like to think I'm self sufficient, but I know I'm not. But I also know that, you know, I have a big community of awesome musicians and friends.
Brett Fieldcamp: You can catch LABRYS in their final show of 2024 at the Opolis in Norman on Friday, November 8th.
You can learn more about that event and others at KGOU.org, and you can join us in celebrating On the Scene alongside myself and past guests on Wednesday, November 6th at The Soundbar in OKC’s Automobile Alley.
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