Highway Songs (CD)
Barcode: 781484067122
Papa M? Are you serious? The last time we said Papa M, it was 2004 and we were talking about a retrospective compilation album! There were no expectations, and none given! Sure, Papa M was attached to some of the 80s90s greatest no-core records, especially if you consider his imaginary alter ego, one David Pajo. But that was a long time ago! So why then does Highway Songsspill into our ears with a newness, a vitality that only fresh blood can bring? Could it be because of all the blood? David Pajos been writing lines on the guitar since he was a bitty little kid. It sustained him through a lot of groups, like Maurice, Slint, Aerial M, Tortoise, The For Carnation, Dead Child. Hes played live too, and on records. And now that hes grown up to be a bitty little man, whats he gonna do, change? If you think so, you dont know Pajo or as hes been known to sometimes go, Papa M. The instrumental sounds hes made in the name of these names on albums with names like Live From a Shark Cage and Whatever, Mortal implied danger, violence and total alienation, alongside a peaceful, easy, good-willin and wide streak of broke-toothed black humor. So, after those classic albums followed by a long silent phase, broken only by a steady stream of sweet (and terrifying) pictures on Instagram, weve now got Highway Songs. Sounds pastoral. Bucolic, even. Whats become of the implication of mayhem in this title? Dont worry. This album could be called Wreck on the Highway Songs. Or Live From an Oxygen Tent. You get it right away, when Flatliners bursts into full metal jackin, igniting the Pajolian doom-rock inner magma into firey evidence. This is something new again, extra savage like the kind of record you might record in between a suicide attempt and a severe motorcycle accident. Add in a little time for a few sessions to finish the album AFTER the bike accident, and you are literally talking about Highway Songs! With a humble combination of sources, Papa M has traditionally traced his music from aboriginal blues all the way through the rock and on into 21st century classical (wait for it), exploring moments via an audio-diary verite. With each encroaching moment of Highway Songs, it sounds to us more and more like good old Papa M, as David throws back the veil of tears from recent times to bear witness to miasmic moodclouds passing not over but THROUGH him. Music from where the mind goes when the body is broken. Reflecting time spent hooked up to machines. A good person with bad thoughts, a story told in fragments picked up off the bathroom floor. Smashed cuts. Highway Songs is the songs of a new man, but one made up of the old man with a few new metal parts inserted in key areas of the legs. Theres kind of a Rear Window quality to the record watching suspiciously from a wheelchair at the comings and goings of the world around you, sorting out where the bodies are buried, making wild accusations, almost
- Release-Date: : 11/11/16
- Format Detail: CD
- Format: CD
- Genre: Rock
