by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
See Jazz is decidedly not jazz, but reality does feel augmented throughout Is This Anything?, the debut album from Aaron Pfannebecker’s solo project. With a sound rooted in bedroom pop, See Jazz is wandering beyond the walls of confessional and dreary pop to create lo-fi music with a sense of adventure. Having played in both Sisters and Drawing Boards, Pfannebecker is no stranger to dissonant recordings, but his latest peels back layers to shine a light on grinding cosmic minimalism, with programmed beats and warbling synths that feel home-crafted. Due out November 10th via Flower Sounds (All Feels, The Lentils, Bobbie), the record, which features Adam Langellotti (Kurt Vile and the Violators) and Jed Smith (Jeanines, My Teenage Stride on bass, feels like it was made for late night isolation, drawn upon a drifting landscape of reverberating layers.
Following lead single “Dance With Me,” See Jazz returns with “1982,” a gorgeous and surreal song that feels lost but assured, the mantra of “and i know when to leave, and I know when to lose” leaving an immediate impression. Joined by Zara Bode (Sweetback Sisters) on guest vocals, Pfannebecker plays against the ethereal bliss of the melody with his own urgent reflections, the song emitting a post-punk like tension despite the gentle beauty of its construction.
On the song the band's Aaron Pfannebecker says:
“‘1982’ is an ethereal pop song with frozen chords that hang in the air like seagulls and Elizabeth Fraser modulating vocals mixed with post-punk drive. It's a keeper about being stuck in a certain frame of mind about how our perspectives get formed and how hard it is to change that. We all go through this and see the world like this at different times.”
Pfannebecker added:
“I’m driving around picking up misanthropes on a sunny day. “You never know what’s going on in anyone’s internal world. So the cloud is like the sadness we all can have or push away. Also the point of the car service is how we’re never alone despite our best efforts of convincing ourselves we are in the noise of the world.”