New World, Lonely Ride (Vinyl LP)

North Carolina multi-instrumentalist Michael Grigoni makes contemplative, slow-burning songs for the soul, while Pan•American (aka Labradford's Mark Nelson) has been quietly releasing experimental electronic niceness since the 1990s. Together, on new album New World, Lonely Ride, they're a gentle dream-force, creating a kind of ambient Americana soundscape to sink into. - Flying Out

Michael Grigoni and Pan•American present their first collaboration. The album’s title, New World, Lonely Ride, gestures toward its meditative orientation. The duo offers a series of reflections on the zeitgeist of our present moment, the spirit of our age: the isolation and loneliness that continues to echo in the wake of the pandemic; the fractures that mar our political discourse; the uncertainty that has stamped itself on the future of democracy. The vast geography of America and the absence of a common ground, a shared political vision, have contributed to the affective landscape of contemporary American life—of what it feels like to live in the United States today.

Using instrumental voices and textures drawn from the traditional American forms of folk, country, bluegrass and blues, and informed with a modern sense of ambience and space, the sound is both contemporary and deeply rooted. With New World, Lonely Ride, Grigoni and Pan American join countless American artists who have drawn upon this landscape—physical and affective—giving it a voice and shape, listening to its character. And in starting there, with listening, offer a response for
the future.

Tracklist:

1. New World, Lonely Ride
2. Sun Morning Sun
3. Omni Country
4. Dream of Someone
5. Silver Streams
6. Black River Song
7. Mirage/Afternoon
8. South Canyon
9. Blue Tears Never Dry
10. Baritone Boderlands