July 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
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P:ano’s debut a chilled-out, fragile pop adventure 18 July 2002
On Tuesday, Vancouver, British Columbia’s Hive-Fi Recordings (the imprint of The Hive recording studio) in collaboration with Berkeley, California indie label Zum Media released the stunning debut album by young chamber pop quartet P:ano, titled When It’s Dark And It’s Summer. 'Chamber pop,' the tag the band prefer, seems more than a bit confining given their proclivity and talent for musical exploration. Along with guests from Jerk With A Bomb, Radiogram, Ashley Park, and Beans plus Vancouver artists Veda Hille and Mariko Molander, P:ano’s debut invites listeners on an experimental, chilled-out, fragile pop adventure featuring an attic full of instruments including musical saw, organ, dulcimer, accordian, trumpet, french horn, woodblocks, live and synthetic drums, treated piano, and wind-up musical box. But P:ano are not some sophomoric indie band aiming at that Spike Jones thing. Not hardly. No, P:ano, with modest intentions, are unassuming, guileless revelators of sublime beauty. Singer/songwriter Nick Krgovich (now 20) and singer/multi-instrumentalist Larissa Loyva (22) met while Krgovich was a junior in high school. The two became musical friends, playing their first gig together in a local shopping mall. In April of 1999 they started P:ano as a vehicle for Krgovich’s songs. It was just one project among many... and still is. Krgovich plays solo as Burquitlam Plaza and records songs with his cousin Julia Chirka in Too Bad Catholics (Chirka also plays bass clarinet on the P:ano LP). Until earlier this month, Loyva played in Vancouver industrial band aLUnARED—she quit to focus on P:ano and on her college classes. With precocious subtlety that in moments evokes glimmers of Belle & Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, Minneapolis band The Waves, Julie Doiron, and Syd Barrett, but most often shines with brave originality, P:ano’s debut manages to be simple and astounding all at once. Five bites out of five. Rockbites ratings 5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying. P:ano will tour the US west coast for two weeks (along with Jerk With A Bomb) starting 12 August, with Justin Kellam on drums and Chris Harris on bass. Check your local listings. P:ano interview on Pop Boffin | Hive-Fi Recordings | | Zum Media | | Lonely Lights Of Home (full length MP3, unreleased) | | CD from Amazon US | | top of page | |
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