Pan American
360 Business/360 Bypass

THE REVIEW

This is music for the brain-damaged. That's why I like it so much. The more I listen, the more two words imprint themselves in my mind: flat electroencephalogram. Minimal, liquid, and cerebral electronics. This is, in a nutshell, the essence of Mark Nelson's musical project, better known as the voice and guitar of Labradford, here in a solo role for the second chapter of the parallel project renamed Pan American. The one sound constant that emerges is: an intangible and ethereal electronic flow, continuous and relentless, divided into six distinct tracks yet, in a certain way, intricately connected to each other until weaving a single sonic tapestry.

A linear electronic architecture repeated to the point of hypnosis. From the initial “Steel Stars,” an obsessive hiss of over ten minutes on which an endlessly repeated dub base is mounted. Continuing with “Code,” the only vocal track highlighted by the faint voices of Low, and further with the static and tight rhythm of “Double Rail,” where brass and percussion chase each other for thirteen interminable minutes. In the concluding “K. Luminate” and “Both Ends Fixed” flows of sub-basses and asynchronous sounds give life to empty constructions, alternating, intertwining in sequence, and merging like the sea and river at the mouth, paradoxically immobile like stagnant water.

 Brilliant. Glacial and silent music, cold yet communicative. The perfect soundtrack for everyday peaceful living or, better yet, the ideal background to switch off the brain and let neurons wander into more subliminal digressions. Free thoughts.