•
Rating: Atmosphere, pathos, and suggestion.
These are among the first words that come to mind when listening to this record by solo artist Mark Nelson (formerly a member of Labradford). The album title is the same as his project "Pan American".
The music, both in content and arrangements, changes things up a bit compared to the typical Labradfordian standard. There's less emotional tension, a typical characteristic that accompanies all productions under the Labradford name. Less emotional charge on one side, on the other, the music gains in introspection, a sense of isolation, mystery, without losing in suggestion.
I can't even explain what the beginning of "Starts Friday" makes me think, three notes lost in space, which cyclically repeat and introduce it. The song then kicks in: the sound is rarefied, the guitar arpeggio is calibrated, organ notes lost in space accompany Nelson's whispered voice, without at all disturbing the gentle melody and the glimmer of twilight light that this track shines with.
A vibrant, slightly dark guitar arpeggio, with a hefty dose of pathos, introduces "Remapping", a minimalist track complete with pulsing dub bass as accompaniment. A sparse and essential rhythm accompanies much of the song. The delicate carpet of initially isolated arpeggios gradually enriches with new sounds to embellish, vary, modify, the song's sound structure. Nocturnal and twilight down to the DNA, a bit like all the compositions on this album.
More lively is "Lent", where a varied organ riff takes the lead, with Nelson's vocal accompaniment more present than ever. (for the album's standard) The rhythm becomes more lively and the guitar in this context becomes a decidedly "dream" accompaniment, even though all the sound material is always treated with the utmost "respect". This results in a stretched sound texture with smooth sounds, despite the track having a lively pace.
After the relaxation of Lent, "First Position" brings the music back to darker territories. In this case, the track itself represents one of the highest peaks of suggestion reached by the album. It lasts only two minutes but makes your blood run cold, tense to the extreme. An isolated "bleep" magnificently contrasts with the track's "dark-noise" course, which gets "broken" twice by an unsettling and breathless hiss, after which, it resumes denser and more magmatic than before. Total absence of rhythms, only layers of sound frequencies dominate, masterfully handled.
A lively semi-tribal/tropical rhythm complete with tambourines accompanies "Tract", a lively and playful sound interlude in an often very austere landscape. "The Dark Nest" rethinks, and retraces its steps, once again offering slower rhythms and solemn organ melody. Perhaps it recalls the boundless landscapes of certain American places and beyond, where nature dominates everything, and the land before you, so rich in details, makes you lose yourself in it for dozens of minutes. Following is "Noun", another track rich in dub inserts and pulsing, reverberating bass, perhaps suffering from excessive repetitiveness, made even more evident by the almost obsessive use of the analog keyboard, used to emulate something similar to the sound of a violin.
Conversely, the penultimate track "Lake Supplies" proves very successful, where the guitar returns to take the spotlight, forming perhaps the most acoustic track of the entire album. Measured in every single note, every single arpeggio. It seems to express something that could be defined as "fatality" or "inevitability", like something against which man can do very little. In conclusion, the album's "black hole", the soporific "Pt. 1" which to my ears appeared as a "sonic nothingness", perhaps born with the intent to convey unease, I decided here to call it "black hole" because for me the album ends with number 8, I believe this clearly conveys what I think of track No. 9. ;-) As I always say though, my opinions could easily not be shared!
Excellent album which I highly recommend purchasing. A work of rarefied and "misty" atmospheres with a sound that, once it enters your system, becomes an integral part of you, making it difficult to free yourself from it afterward. I'm not saying it's an easy or even commercial album. However, for those who have the patience to listen, it is something that can be absolutely engaging, with an incredible emotional impact.
Ps: In this regard, even one notch higher are Nelson's subsequent works, always under Pan American. (Quiet city, The River Made No Sound)
Loading comments slowly
