Pastel De Nada [2LP]

James Elkington - Pastel De Nada [2LP]

In 2023 James Elkington released Me Neither, a double album of solo guitar improvisations
and experiments. He ended up thinking of it as a wordless collection of library music. 'Library music' is a trove of anonymously produced sound that can be plundered for any kind of use and Elkington, the Chicago based British guitarist, nds a freedom in this music that seems to come out nowhere. He follows up Me Neither with Pastel de Nada, a new 2xLP set where the 27 tracks amount to more of a toolkit than a library. Bright, optimistic strums like 'The Lyre Concordia', layered meditations like 'Morny in the Earling' and 'The Caves at Aurangabad', and tracks like 'The Equal Spacing' that tick and whir like little machines for generating joy. Elkington squares his guitars off against textures, atmospheres and whispers of percussion.

    Tracks

    1 Morny in the Earling
    2 I, Altered
    3 An Anechoic Orchestra
    4 Sun Rats
    5 Pont Du Poivre
    6 Draw a Head
    7 Ortemega
    8 The Equal Spacing
    9 Nonpareils in a Bottle
    10 Nana Fermur
    11 The Submersible Community
    12 Don't Tell Anyone
    13 Golden K
    14 Ever in the Latening
    15 Window Weapon Speaks
    16 The Lyre Concordia
    17 Fast Eyes (And Neck)
    18 The Unexpected City
    19 A Moon Crows
    20 Build Your Own Background
    21 No Time Is Passing
    22 Very Berk Squad
    23 Everybody's Colleyland
    24 The Caves at Aurangabad
    25 The Cats Are Bored
    26 Daft Zenith Nought
    27 Night-Felt