Pangolin Band- TRB. About The CD.

Recording sessions for the CD began in January 2003, at Adam Calaitzis' Toyland Studios in Northcote. A concious decision was made by the band to use click tracks as little as possible.
For Paul Hughan especially, with his background in solo performance, the current obsession in Rock music with metronomic regularity seems irrational. The band laid down basic tracks in single takes as far as possible.
In fact, all but one of the drum tracks are single takes, with minimal editing. Extensive guitar overdubs were then done, and vocal performances were comped from sessions that rarely took more than a few hours. This CD is one for those who claim they like their music without a Pro-Tooled gloss of perfection- let's see if their money is where their mouth is! The band rehearsed the material extensively before recording, and then concentrated on achieving good performances. The results bear more resemblance to Jeff Beck's mid-70s Jazz Rock efforts than to most recent productions.

About The Songs.

TRB.

After a layered guitar opening, this song is built around a constant return to a simple Bb groove. In between times it sideslips harmonically into keyboard heavy bridges, before finishing with a coda rich in Eastern bends. Space Gospel, anyone?
Listen To TRB 2nd verse.
Listen To TRB solo.

Dragonfly.

It's not Bossa Nova. It's not Jazz. In fact, nothing that happens harmonically, structurally, rhythmically or instrumentally is what a Jazz or Bossa Nova player would do. And yet the resemblance is unmistakable....Balkan Bossa-Nova? A song about vegeing out, too lazy to actually hit the beach. We'll talk about it, but we'll never get there. Note the Cocteau Twins-ish ear candy in the middle section.
Listen To Dragonfly

Collide-A-Scope.

Lifted from a video soundtrack of Paul's, this perhaps resembles a Psychedelic version of the Durutti Column.

Summer.

Dry, honky and sensual, this track is like Hip-Hop bursting into melody. The end jam is one take with overdubs. Did someone say "excess"? Well, that's what summer is all about.
Listen To Summer.

Rain/ Electric Ambience.

Exactly what the names suggest. Brian Eno meets ECM.
Listen To Rain.

Treeline.

Like the car journey it describes, this track just keeps evolving till it alights at the beaches in a blaze of Afro-Mediterranean guitars. The breakdown at the end is an example of full studio disclosure at work.
Listen To Treeline.
Listen To Treeline 2.

Palisades.

About the only song on the CD with a recognisable verse-chorus structure, Palisades is based upon a Smashing Pumpkins song with a similiar light-to-deranged dynamic. The coda owes a lot to Led Zeppelin's "What Is And What Should Never Be". The sideslipping chord progression, however, is unlike anything else.
Listen To Palisades Start.
Listen To Palisades Coda.

Cathedral.

The tall, straight forests of the Black Spur are the perfect visual accompaniment to this one. Ambient hard rock with a strong Flamenco influence.
Listen To Cathedral.

Tenebrous.

Up at Byron Bay, about fifteen minutes after sunset, the insects make a noise like a jet plane taking off. This song is like a surrender to the subtropical night, with certified witch Wendy Rule as the mistress of ceremonies. The opening is half-speed guitar, the ending is genuine biomass.
Listen To Tenebrous.

 

      
©2006 Pangolin Band