1. The Last To Remain
2. I Forgot If We Dreamed (full mp3)
3. The Fog Of Memory
4. We Fucking Love You
5. Accountable
6. Did It Happen (full mp3)
7. Together & Lonely
8. Because I Can
Hello. Since Pandatone himself runs Music Related - the label this CD “Happy Together” appears on - he thought it was weird to write his own press blurb. So I was asked to write it. We’re old friends by NYC standards, so I headed out to Queens to listen to the tracks and talk to him about making it.
Upon arrival, I proceed to harass him about his apartment. (I always do this.) “You’re 30 now. Don’t you think it’s time to stop living like you’re in college?” “But I just got this cool paper shredder and humidifier,” came his retort.
We moved into the “studio,” which is more like a storage space for boxes of CDs and cables than a studio - or even a bedroom. He started playing me Happy Together, but I had to almost immediately ask, “What’s the deal? I thought you said you’d never release any Pandatone material on your own label?” He replied, “Yeah, shit is fucked like that. But listen to it anyway.” I agreed… shit is fucked, and so I shut my yap.
On the album, there are some very nice songs featuring female vocalist “Julliana Barwick” - uplifting numbers with deep production. Although slow in tempo, they are upbeat in spirit. Then there are tracks with male vocals that are much more melancholy. Pandatone tells me he doesn’t write lyrics. The words are just the “shit in his head” when he hits record. Lucky for him, I think they work well together - almost playing out like shattered romance.
It’s been almost three years since his debut LP on Neo Ouija records. Besides the use of acoustic guitar, I’m not sure there are many similarities between this record and his debut. The influence of running Music Related is almost instantly apparent. His room is full of instruments now - from child-sized toys to a huge reel-to-reel tape deck. The Pandatone studio is the wrong environment for a clinical claustrophobic, but full of creative possibilities if you’re the right type. It feels like this environment has been transfered into the songs for Happy Together. Pandatone’s fascination with the actual sound of recording is plastered all over the album. Using lots of tape and background noise, he tries to bring out specific tones that are just too far gone to really be there.
The influence of Shugo Tokumaru and the Boats is fairly noticeable - though not copied. The sound of NYC is in there too - with some tracks featuring an almost junktronic-type percussion. While the album plays and even after it ends, he is much more interested in talking about the artists who are working on stuff for Music Related than his own music, and I leave with a handful of CDs.
Whether he likes comparisons or not, I would recommend Happy Together if you like Psapp, Müm, and Tujiko Noriko.
[pandatone homepage]
[julianna barwick homepage]
video
press reviews:
earplug.
Subtly evoking the spirit of fellow avant-acoustic blippers like the Books and Múm, Pandatone’s criminally overlooked Happy Together is at once a stripped-down, post-toytronica masterwork and a minimalist pop endeavor awash in warm, ambient atmospheres. On album opener “The Last to Remain,” thick bell tones embrace stuttering, stunted acoustic guitar riffs, as guest vocalist Julianna Barwick’s thin-throated croon traverses the long stretch of thickened air between her mouth and the microphone. Glitched-out edges are smoothed to nubs by a mess of strings, broken beats, and haunting tones. While other Barwick-adorned tunes like “I Forgot If We Dreamed” and “Together and Lonely” are similarly broody, “We Fucking Love You” humbly ups the intensity, setting her cooled-out croon against the record’s first truly shattered percussion. For its part, fellow album highlight “Did It Happen” lands like a Radiohead B-side, with warm, melodic textures wrapping around the cool Thom Yorke-isms of project mastermind Panda. -AP
xlr8r.
Three years since his debut, Lemons and Limes, on the now-defunct Neo Ouija label, New York’s Pandatone (a.k.a. Trevor Sias) releases Happy Together on his own Music Related imprint. Expanding on the processed guitar compositions of Lemons and Limes, Happy Together features spare field recordings, carefully placed synths, and hushed vocals from Julianna Barwick and Sias himself. “The Last To Remain” opens the record with subdued layers of acoustic guitar and Barwick’s comforting voice. Elsewhere, “The Fog of Memory” recalls early Greg Davis, while “We Fucking Love You” channels a quieter Kid A. By carefully balancing chopped experimentation with lush tones and accessible songwriting, Happy Together has something for obsessive audiophiles and casual pop fans alike.
other music.
Following a three year hiatus, Pandatone is back with Happy Together on his own Music Related imprint, (the same label that brought us Shugo Tokumaru’s brilliant Night Piece). As with those releases, subtle and organic electronica is the order of the day as Pandatone utilizes acoustic guitars, understated male and female vocals, samples and field recordings to create eight enchanting compositions. However, what makes this album stand out is Pandatone’s urge to experiment. There are lots of little twists and turns to these songs, as he’s not afraid to throw in some tape hiss and slightly dissonant elements. This is a guaranteed winner if you’ve enjoyed works by Mum, Psapp, Tujiko Noriko, and maybe even Portishead.
vital weekly.
Behind Pandatone is the man who also runs the label Music Related, but his debut album was three years ago on Neo Ouija and his main interest back then was ‘computer processing of his acoustic guitar’. I must admit I didn’t hear that record, but the guitar is still a present feature on ‘Happy Together’, but it’s expanded with the use of voices, male and female, slow trip like rhythms, samples, field recordings and a synth here and there. Maybe the ’slow trip rhythms’ may already give a clue what this is about: slow trip hop like music, and especially when there is the voice Julianna Barwick, thoughts go out to Portishead or Antenne. But that’s only half the story. The music part is actually quite interesting. Pandatone loves sound: from real instruments, but also found sound, tape-hiss, contact microphones scratching the surface and the eight tracks may form a unity in approach towards composition, there is enough small, experimental things happening all around which make this a highly enjoyable CD. At times the influence of Tujiko Noriko can be heard - both in music and the use of voice - but in his songs Pandatone is much tighter and more concise than the sometimes somewhat free formed songs of Noriko. Melancholically music for sure, but with a nice sunlight coming in. It’s a very nice CD, subtle, emotional and just great. (FdW)
norman records.
Phil here is smitten with the new CD from Pandatone. This is another album that’s going to appeal to Bjork fans, as well as Mum, Tujiko Noriko etc. ‘Happy Together’ has a real gentle fairy tale quality to it. The fragile female vocal is gorgeous. There are all round happy vibes emmiting from the speakers. A real lazy summer album. You get the feeling that the band approaches their sound with real innocence and a genuine passion for sound. The mix of electronic beats, guitar and pretty electronics is perfectly excecuted. Magical stuff on Music Related.
smallfish.
For those of you that remember Pandatone’s lovely, understated album on Neo Ouija from a few years back this release will come as a welcome surprise indeed. The recent run of simply gorgeous albums from The Sea and Aus on Music Related is now amply added to by label boss Pandatone’s own solo album. As you might imagine from the rest of the catalogue it’s a beautiful, melodic and organic collection of tracks that seem to come right from the heart. Guitars, electronics and vocals all hit the right balance and the songwriting is finely honed and beautifully produced. If you’re a fan of the Moteer releases or the other Music Related albums then this is an absolute must. Charming from beginning to end.
artistdirect.com
NYC’s Music Related label knows all about dreamy indulgence, specializing in bedroom-tronic records from Japanese and Scandinavian artists that put equal emphasis on pop hooks and spaced-out creativity. Label owner Pandatone’s sophomore full-length, Happy Together, may be his imprint’s finest release yet. It layered, slow-burn mistiness recalls Múm’s best work—most of all when graced with the impossible, bell-like tones of Julianna Warwick’s voice.
