* En anglais uniquement
Pan•American is the long-running solo project of
Mark Nelson, guitarist and vocalist of ambient drone-rock legends
Labradford. While bearing some similarities to the group, such as drifting guitar textures and hushed vocals,
Pan•American has frequently explored dub, techno, and ambient influences, employing shimmering washes of sound and subtle glitch effects.
360 Business/360 Bypass (2000) is his dubbiest, most beat-heavy work, while Quiet City (2004) represents his music at its most stripped-down and intimate. After several electronic-oriented efforts such as 2013's
Cloud Room, Glass Room, he went back to his roots with the primarily acoustic
A Son in 2019 and 2022's similarly styled
The Patience Fader.
While active as a member of
Labradford,
Mark Nelson began recording and trading cassettes of his experimental solo work as
Pan•American sometime during the mid-'90s. The project's self-titled debut, an album of dub-influenced post-rock, was issued by Kranky in 1998, and a version of
Pan•American's track "Both Ends Fixed" appeared on a split EP with
Janek Schaefer on FatCat Records the same year. A different mix of the track (this time with cornet playing by
Rob Mazurek) was included on the second
Pan•American album,
360 Business/360 Bypass, which also included guest vocals by
Alan Sparhawk and
Mimi Parker of
Low. As
Nelson's activities with
Labradford wound down,
Pan•American singles and split releases appeared on labels like BSI Records and Quatermass, and the project's third album,
The River Made No Sound, was released by Kranky in 2002.
Moving away from the dub techno influences, the more acoustic Quiet City appeared in 2004, packaged with a DVD using the album as its soundtrack. The glitchy, abstract
For Waiting, For Chasing was released by Austrian label Mosz in 2006, and later reissued by Kranky. 2009's White Bird Release was a bit darker and more static-filled, and 2013's
Cloud Room, Glass Room, featuring percussionist
Steven Hess, brought back some traces of the project's earlier dub-influenced sound.
Rue Corridor (Sketch for Winter II), an ambient cassette EP, was issued by Geographic North in early 2015.
A Son, a country-influenced album of guitar-based songs and pieces for hammered dulcimer, appeared in 2019. A further album of "romantic minimalism,"
The Patience Fader, was released in 2022. ~ Paul Simpson