Aerial M
As Performed By...
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Aerial M
As Performed By...
Drag City, 1998
RiYL: David Pajo, Tortoise |
As a founding member of legendary Louisville noise-instrumentalists Slint and a main contributor to Tortoise's visionary Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Pajo quietly collaborated on some of the most affecting music of the '90s. Under the billing Aerial M, Pajo here unveils seven beautiful instrumentals that reference, but don't really resemble, his earlier work with Slint or Tortoise. Instead, As Performed By.. is a study in breathtaking melodies and innovative songwriting. "Dazed And Awake" accurately describes the feel of the album's opener, enveloping one's head with bright guitar work and understated dynamics.
The six-minute "Aass" leaves behind the bottom-end boom that is Tortoise's trademark, allowing the song to spread through warm and longing double-guitar repetition. "Skrag Theme" would approximate a Slint melody if it were played with the amplifiers on "3," while the loops and effects on "Compassion Form" recall both the experimentation of Tortoise and the textures of Directions In Music.
With As Performed By.., Pajo fashioned an unassumingly gorgeous debut worthy of the same level of praise awarded to his past creations.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"