Pan American - The Patience Fader LP

It feels lame to reference press releases in these write-ups, but there seems to be no better way to sum up the latest album from Kranky stalwart, Pan American, than in Brian Eno’s words: “Duane Eddy playing Erik Satie.”

On the surface, this collection of solo guitar pieces seem simple enough, with the bulk of the album made of clean lyrical passages over minimal chord changes. But the hook lies in the clashing waves of delay pulses and overtones. 

One for those zoning to the batch of ambient rock(?)/dub folk(?) (both bad genre titles I just made up) of the last couple of years a la Steve Hiett, Blue Divers, Troth, Grouper, Barry Walker Jr., or Ry Cooder’s “Paris, Texas” soundtrack played through a space echo.
-Mitch (Repressed Records)