It’s no secret that Long Beach electronic / hip-hop producer and artist undocument’s 2012 debut album has been gaining momentum since its release a few months ago. With new fans, remixes and even composing gigs, its saying a lot about the newfound longevity of independent releases. Gone are the days of one album per year; undocument’s debut proves that, even long after a album is unveiled, there is still a lot of life left in For Lovers, Dreamers & Non-Believers.
On the nine track instrumental album, driving drums back up sampled strings and haunting pianos, while soothing, bubbling synths ride out on gritty bass lines. Overall, it's covered in dreamy landscapes pinned down by steady beats, while elsewhere, disembodied vocals chillingly bemoan over delay-saturated guitars.
During the beginning stages of recording, undocument was heavily influenced by the works of Erik Satie and his self-described "furniture music": background music played as a cerebral setting instead of as a centerpiece. Some of the music on For Lovers..., like the melodic opening track "As Always, With Affection" or the damaged "Murmuring" follow closely in that vein, almost as a soundtrack of sorts. In fact, without any vocalists, it seems closer to a movie score than an album, as if the overall mood is more important than singing along.
“As an independent musician,” he says, “I’m finding I can go farther with [For Lovers...] than I had thought possible. A lot has changed [in the music industry] in the past couple of years, and I think the best thing to come from that has been the continued interest that has really benefited the life of this album."
In addition to new fans and new sales, undocument, also known as Brian Pampaselle, has even found a wealth of support from like-minded artists willing to collaborate and remix a few seminal tracks from the album, often in dramatically different ways.
After self-producing and filming a variety of music videos to promote key tracks from “For Lovers, Dreamers & Non-Believers” including the nostalgic As Always, With Affection and lush A Flood Of Ghosts, undocument was featured multiple times on college radio, even landing himself as one of the Best of 2012 slots on KUCI’s Telesthesia: Sound System Circuitry.
Most notable is undocument’s development into film: “I’ve always created music that would be a natural fit as the backdrop for movies and television,” he says. Recently he released his acclaimed electronic soundtrack for independent short film Vitamin D through his website, which just might lead to other musical opportunities both in the film and music industries.
But being an “electronic” musician hasn’t hampered a recent decision to promote the album in a more conventional way – live performance. Featuring songs from For Lovers... as well as unreleased tracks and instrumental beats carefully modified for performing, a number of live shows are slated for the coming weeks where undocument hopes to continue spreading the word about his remarkable debut.
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INCLUDES:
- UN Cover Letter
- UN Biography
- UN One Sheet
- "For Lovers..." Press Release
- Hi-Rez (300 dpi) Photos
