PAJO

Every once in a while, I have a song pop up on my iPod that I have no idea how it got there but sounds great. This past weekend, PAJO's "Manson Twins" played that role.

I have no recollection of saving it to my hard drive. I'm sure it either came from a blog or someone emailed it to me. However, I can find neither the blog nor the email. The fact that it is an m4a file rather than an mp3, makes me think someone sent it to me. So, whoever turned me onto PAJO...thanks.

PAJO is the latest name that David Pajo is recording under. He does the Will Oldham thing and changes his artist name every few years for his solo work (Papa M, Arial M, PAJO, M, M Is The Thirteenth Letter). However, in addition to his solo work, Pajo has played with a boatload of influential bands. Slint, Tortoise, The For Carnation, Palace, Stereolab, King Kong and Royal Trux. Pretty damn impressive resume.

Well, in 2005, when he wasn't playing on the Slint reunion tour, PAJO released a self-titled album on Drag City. That album contains the beautiful acoustic number that I fell in love with this past weekend, "Manson Twins". It has that warm intimate feeling that is so prevalent on Iron & Wine's The Creek Drank the Cradle. Keys and percussions join in about halfway through the song but it's mainly carried by PAJO's soft guitar picking and vocals.

Like I said earlier, whoever sent me this thing, I appreciate it.

By the way, David Pajo also writes a blog called Pink Hollers. It's mainly filled with photos and his brief comments. However, he's been doing it since 2002 which is a long time to keep it going.

PAJO - Manson Twins (follow the link)