There must be something in the water in Brooklyn as it seems to produce a disproportionate number of musical artists for its size (97 square miles versus London’s 607 square miles). Pas Musique were founded in 1995 by Robert L. Pepper evolving through different line-ups and experimental electronic iterations. ‘Come Follow Me’, and the forthcoming album of the same name, are Pepper’s tribute to the late Francis John Tovey (1956 – 2002) aka Fad Gadget, who mixed the electronic with the everyday such as found objects and drills. Pepper says,
“It started with a concept of “Could I make an album with vocals, while dipping into a pop edge?” So, I wrote sequences that use some 80’s sounding synth sounds in the style of Fad Gadget. Then the vocals just came to me. ‘Come Follow Me’ was the first track that materialized and then the workflow began. Tracks just evolve naturally.“
Fans of 1980s electronic music will recognise the influences: early monophonic synths that spit out jarring sawtooth and creamy muted wave forms in equal proportion, as well as the one-note crunchy handclaps, tinny electronic hi-hats and thudding beat repetition to infinity.
The video, premiering on Joyzine, was crowdsourced by friends and fans who submitted their own clips “building on a concept revolving around community and how we can create projects across the globe and find our own circles of mutual interest and support.” These clips are like skipping through TikTok posts or Instagram stories; a surreal set of vignettes that are as wonderfully askew as the music.
‘Come Follow Me’ is a tightrope walk for what Pepper calls a “balance of the commercial and the strange”. I am not entirely sure where they want me to follow them to but I feel sure I should ask my parents if it’s okay first.
Pas Musique socials: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify
Review by Paul F Cook
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