Monday, July 12, 2010

EIC'S10Q'S w/Pan American

"..dreamy/gentle/misty guitars swimming and drowning in an ocean of static, white noises, slightly audible jazz style drumming, minimal synths, and "Slow-core/down tempo" vocals.."


Pan American
Lackadaisical Milieu

Pan American Bio:
A more beat-oriented solo project for guitarist/vocalist Mark Nelson of Labradford, Pan American debuted with a self-titled album on Chicago's Kranky Records in 1998. Nelson then recorded a track for the British experimentalist-electronic label Fat Cat's Split series, and also played live with pedal-steel genius B.J. Cole. His second Pan American LP, 360 Business/360 Bypass, appeared in early 2000 with collaborations from Chicago trumpeter Rob Mazurek and the members of Low. A series of split CDs followed, including 2001's Personal Settings: Preset 1, and Nelson returned to his full-length efforts with the stripped down 2002 effort The River Made No Sound. Released two years later, Quiet City brought back the textured layers of Pan American's earlier material, while White Bird Release appeared in 2008.



Hello, how are you?
Very well, thank you.

What are you currently listening to?
Some recent listens: Bill Frissell "Inline", Ran Blake "Driftwoods", Supersilent 5, Beach House "Teen Dream", Theo Parrish "First Floor"

Anything new coming up for Pan Am?
No, just laying low for now. Trying to figure out what I like and don't like mostly. So a period of re-evaluation and doing other things. This is probably the first time I haven't had a record in process (or a burning desire to have one going) in ten or fifteen years.

When you create you music is it all “mood based”? By that I mean “White Bird Release” was pretty melancholy and somewhat dark, whereas “360 Business/360 Bypass” was a little more mechanical and dub-y. What, if any, was your mood for these albums when you made them?
The music is not really reflective of my mood at the time of making it, it's reflective of maybe larger picture
things going on in my life, though. So good moods, "dark'" moods they come and go and ultimately settle into a musty puddle of low-level, unfocused discontent in other words, I'm like just about everyone else! but the records hopefully reflect the better angels of time and space, and aren't day to day reflections of how I'm feeling.

Out of all your release which one are you most proud of?

Second Labradford record, first Pan American. Both for personal reasons, not necessarily musical ones.

What are the chances of Labradford ever seeing the light of day again? Care to explain what happened?

Nothing happened except our lives moved in different directions. We're all still friends and talk often (although carter lives in Madrid and I haven't had much contact with him lately) but I probably talk or email with Bobby once or twice a week. the fun part of the band was being together in the same city and the music being a daily part of life. we tried the long distance thing and found it very unsatisfying. I'm pretty dubious about the idea of sending things back and forth and working more or less independently. Labradford was always a live band, I think when that stopped happening the band stopped making sense to us. But who knows, the future is unwritten, as they say.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
I don't know if I can answer this. You might have to flesh out the scenario in which this circumstance has come to pass a bit more. If it's some sort of post-apocalypse living in a underground shelter thing- music would probably make the situation worse. If I were in solitary confinement on a prison island off the coast of Newfoundland, I'd probably be too busy wallowing in self pity to concentrate on a record.

Are you living your dream?

I'm pretty sure I'm awake.

Thanx Brian & Mark!

Pan American is currently (hopefully) working on a follow up to 2009's "White Bird Release" look for that in the near future...

No comments:

Post a Comment