Time for another installment of our First/Last/Favorite column, our party-game inspired format for getting to know our favorite artists’ influences. Today we get to know a little more about the forces behind Antonioni.
Antonioni is a Seattle based band master-minded by singer and songwriter Sarah Pasillas. Since 2016 they’ve released a couple excellent EPs, including the 2019’s The Odds Were All Beating Me on Den Tapes. The band has more recently been working with Lauren Records to release their first proper full-length slated for a release this Friday! The new self-titled record builds out the band’s sharply written contemporary indie with plenty of nods to 90s smart-alternative and power-pop. Across the record’s ten tracks the band can be alternately brash or shimmery, fuzzed-out or contemplative. There are some real stand outs including ‘Mary Bell’ and the energized lead-off cut ‘Mouth Breather‘. Linked below is the video for ‘Puck’, their slow burner of a single.
Sarah was kind enough to share some thoughts and stories on a few of her most well-loved records. According to her: “These are going to be extremely biased, 100% subjective, totally personal takes.” And here they are, in her own words:
LAST
I have two to mention
First, I have to say: I love both these bands so SO much. I wanna hear my community, so listening to local music has become like a lifestyle to me over the years. It makes me feel like I’m a part of their world, not in competition but in communication and celebration of each other. I miss the Seattle music scene more than anything. Bands like Racoma and Black Ends (and countless others) are what keep the spark alive. I feel hashtag blessed to know these people.
Black Ends Stay Evil (July 15, 2020)
Undeniable. That’s the word I keep coming back to when I think of how to describe Black Ends-- they’re undeniable! The attitude and sincerity in Nicolle’s unique vocal timbre, the way the guitar parts slither around the intoxicating melody, the way the songs crawl and sprawl and implode and then come back to center again...it’s all undeniable! The songwriting is so skilled and purposeful, but the delivery is frenetic and fervid-- I think that’s why they call themselves “gunk pop.” This EP is the perfect amount to give you their vibe and vision-- and it 100% makes you want to hear even more. I’m a huge fan. This album got me through the past summer. This is the voice of the future, in my very humble opinion.
Racoma This Front Room (May 1, 2020)
Sweet, soft, catchy, warm: this album is what I have listened to most on my walks and hikes this past year. Racoma is another undeniable talent from right here Seattle. If you like Fleet Foxes but want some slight country twang, maybe a little more attitude, this is it. I can’t believe some of the choruses on this album. And, just like the aforementioned Black Ends ep, this record is produced perfectly to highlight the band’s true sound, nothing more than you need. Honestly, Glenn’s voice is like a warm blanket to me. And the songwriting is just. so. freaking. good. I can’t stop listening to this album--and I won’t!
FAVORITE
Elliott Smith XO (Aug 25, 1998)
So, my goat is Elliott Smith. It’s just how it worked for me--the stars were aligned for this one.
When you’re an Elliott Smith fan, you probably know this truth: it’s actually impossible to have ONE favorite album of his. for me, it changes every 4 yrs or so. But XO has a super special place in my heart, since it’s the first of his I ever heard.
I remember holding the burned cd in my car at night, coming out of a guitar lesson. I was 15. My teacher had insisted: you gotta listen to this! Bobby (another student) showed me this and you’re gonna love it. I am still friends with Bobby. The person who introduced you to Elliott Smith, you don’t ever let that person go from your life.
So long story short, this album changed me.
Tomorrow Tomorrow, Independence Day, Bled White, Waltz #1. I remember writing all the lyrics to Waltz #1 on the bus window, with my finger on the wet fog. Every hour I used to cop to make the repetition stop. I didn’t even know what it meant to “cop,” but damn I felt that.
I originally wrote an entire song-by-song rundown of my experience of this album, but it’s too much to share here. If I start, I won’t stop.
All I can say is, Elliott Smith is my goat. Goat goat goat.
FIRST
Nirvana Nevermind (Sep 24, 1991)
When I was 12, I inherited my aunt’s collection of CDs after she passed from cancer. She was my best friend, she was a huge inspiration to me. Her collection of CDs introduced me to my first life-altering album: Nirvana’s Nevermind.
There are all these visceral connections we can have with an album: seeing the teal and silver CD spinning in my walkman, hearing Kurt’s voice and words while pacing my 7th grade courtyard, trying to forget my first funeral. When you’re at the right age where you need something but you don’t know what, an album can feel like the pinnacle of human achievement. It can feel like it was made just for you.
I want to share my first-ever diary entry with you:
Sucky [24 Jul 2002|02:55pm]
[mood| angry]
[music|Smells like teen spirit - Nirvana]
Hii...so far..this summer/year/life has been S-U-C-K-Y! Everything has just plain SUCKED... to top it all off, latly I've been all depressed and crap. Mostly because the fact that I would never meet Kurt, that he's dead, it just hit me REALLY hard for some reason. Isn't that lovely? Need---somthing---happy....oh well.
So I started: I explored writing as expression, writing poem after poem after poem, writing about music, writing about my friends, feeling safe. Music and art should be safe. This album also is what started me into playing music. I felt like I needed to play guitar.
Hearing this album made me realize what music can do, what self-expression can do. For me, it was a channel that told me: you’re allowed. you’re allowed to express grief and be upset and it can be beautiful to be you. You can play with your feelings in art. You’re allowed to be you.