Fresh Tracks: August 2012

Monday, 13 August 2012 12:12

Northern Direction is a coming of age creation of young lovers communing with nature and trying to find themselves. Sunflower Pagallo, a duo of Sydney Lane and Eddie Roqueta, recorded the 11-track LP in 2011. 

Sydney wrote all the lyrics and then Eddie filled in the songs with his multi-instrumentation talents and drums. He also produced the record. Northern Direction refers to their anticipated migration to the West, as well as their inner journey together.

LOCAL PICK: SUNFLOWER PAGALLO

by Greg Allard

Sydney's voice sounds like something from out of the '60s, like Cass Elliot reborn, only thinner and prettier. Eddie's production and instrumentation is layered and lush and not something anyone could have done overnight. The resulting sound is something like Enya meets the Mamas and the Papas.

The lyrics are poetic and rooted in nature. The first track, "Panacea," bears that out: "Waves push in /Rain always bleeds out /Snow falls in /Wind always rips open/Panacea."

Saying that, the lyrics are a bit of a riddle. "I would say an overall theme for the lyrics would be something of growth, nature and spiritual development--a sort of coming of age," says Sydney.

You can't look up "Pagallo" in the dictionary. Sydney explained that it was a combination of graffiti tags for herself and Eddie—"Just like little symbols that we sketch or something, you know, like doodles in the corner of your paper when you're really bored."

Perhaps my favorite song on the album is "Good Ice," a love song about change and the ways of nature, "She had heard about bad ice /And how the salt water's always unsafe /Shapes, angles /Painted down her spine / She heard he was there /Where the ice was always good I like when you call out for me."

Although it may not end up on the Billboard Hot 100, it very well could end up in some future book with a title similar to "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die." It's just that worthy.

LOCAL DJ: DANTE LIMA

Compiled by Greg Allard

NEIL YOUNG / On The Beach

I like my music bittersweet, and this both laments and rests on the laurels of loneliness. The personal complexities trump any of the Young classics, and he treads between electric and acoustic brilliance as swiftly as Dylan on Bringing It All Back Home. There's venom in "Revolution Blues," and desolation and paranoia in the title track. Neil Young may rock out or swing harder on other albums, but his tongue and his mind were never sharper.

IGGY POP / Lust for Life

During Iggy Pop's time with The Stooges, he relied on grit, attitude and energy as vehicles for songwriting, and I'm sure glad he did because there may not be a more visceral band in the history of American rock. But like a physically gifted athlete that ages, you have to know how to play the game. He champions this sentiment by taking the minimalistic approach to enduring singles like "Lust For Life" and "The Passenger." For those who can't imagine Iggy Pop without punk, "Sixteen" will make you feel normal.

D'ANGELO / Brown Sugar

Growing up in the '90s, radio-ready R&B was inescapable. The genre was plagued with bombastic gimmicks, tones that would be dated by the end of the decade and a lack of sexual subtlety. D'Angelo got so much right in a time when R&B needed legitimacy. This blended the groove and swagger of hip-hop with the sensuality and pop-oriented songwriting of classic soul. D'Angelo nodded to predecessors with covers like Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin" while he relied on sinking into the vibe of his songs and peering out with a smooth falsetto or perfectly placed harmony.

DANTE LIMA plays bass and sings backing vocals for Pseudo Kids and is a copywriter and social media manager at an advertising agency in Orlando. He began playing in Gainesville in 2006 as a guitarist for Palm & Pine and has also played with Wait Wait, The Footlights and Deputy. He is a co-organizer of the AM/FM Gainesville Music Showcase and was a music columnist for the Gainesville Sun.

• Add New
• Search

Comments (0)

Write comment

Your Contact Details:

Name:

Email: do not notifynotify

Website:

Comment:

Title:

Message:

Security

Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 4.0 beta1

!joomlacomment 4.0 Copyright (C) 2009 Compojoom.com . All rights reserved."