Before changing his name, Scott Rosenberg carved out a successful career as avant composer and free jazz saxophonist who worked with the likes of Anthony Braxton and other pioneers of modern music. He has been called 'one of the best creative saxophonists in America' by the All Music Guide, and is a founding member of the psych band Pinkmountain, which includes Sam Coomes (Quasi, Elliot Smith) and Gino Robair (Tom Waits, Thinking Fellers Union).
The metamorphosis began five years ago when Scott adopted Pinkmountain as his last name. He formed the band PAF with two other Mills College grads who shared his mission to combine their avant training with American roots song writing. Together they recorded Fingerprints, Medicine in 2006 and Phoenix in 2007, before disbanding in 2008. But rather than closing the door, Pinkmountain set his sights on a bigger goal. He swept up the broken pieces of his band and spent six months with engineer Eli Crews (Deerhoof, Why?) assembling a mighty and emotionally fractured mosaic called The Full Sun.
In the rarest of cases, more really is more: Scott Pinkmountain's The Full Sun blends improvisation and avant composition with classic song writing and more musicality per square inch than most box sets. Using upwards of 60 musicians, including a full orchestra, an eleven-piece big band and numerous experimental hybrids, Pinkmountain channels music with freedom, precision and raw earthy emotion.
Picture Elliott Smith if he would have been heavily into theatrics and actually sort of happy and you can kind of put together, to some degree, where Scott Pinkmountain is coming from. The songs are rich and orchestrated, which I guess should be expected when you're using upwards of 60 people. In the end though, it's quite good stuff that could get lumped into the chamber pop category or sit alongside someone like Scott Walker pretty easily.
Download: You Gave Me This
Download: I Shall Not Be Released
The metamorphosis began five years ago when Scott adopted Pinkmountain as his last name. He formed the band PAF with two other Mills College grads who shared his mission to combine their avant training with American roots song writing. Together they recorded Fingerprints, Medicine in 2006 and Phoenix in 2007, before disbanding in 2008. But rather than closing the door, Pinkmountain set his sights on a bigger goal. He swept up the broken pieces of his band and spent six months with engineer Eli Crews (Deerhoof, Why?) assembling a mighty and emotionally fractured mosaic called The Full Sun.
In the rarest of cases, more really is more: Scott Pinkmountain's The Full Sun blends improvisation and avant composition with classic song writing and more musicality per square inch than most box sets. Using upwards of 60 musicians, including a full orchestra, an eleven-piece big band and numerous experimental hybrids, Pinkmountain channels music with freedom, precision and raw earthy emotion.
Picture Elliott Smith if he would have been heavily into theatrics and actually sort of happy and you can kind of put together, to some degree, where Scott Pinkmountain is coming from. The songs are rich and orchestrated, which I guess should be expected when you're using upwards of 60 people. In the end though, it's quite good stuff that could get lumped into the chamber pop category or sit alongside someone like Scott Walker pretty easily.
Download: You Gave Me This
Download: I Shall Not Be Released
2 comments:
What an amazing sound! I think Lush is the word I'd use for it.
Great blog.
Rich
HyperDIY Media
www.hyperdiymedia.com
info@hyperditmedia.com
Thanks for the kind words! Paul
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