Pastel Blank

Pastel Blank revolves around the songs and voice of songwriter Angus Watt. It is brought to life by an ever-shifting cast of musicians and recurring collaborators from Montréal, Vancouver, and Victoria, and exists somewhere between a “solo” project and a band.

Experimentation is cloaked in pop-minded song structure: the sheen and gloss of a disco ball glints off the edges of sharp, angular post-punk sensibilities. The groove is a morse code stutter; there is funkiness, but it is tempered by a wide-eyed nervousness, as if the songs themselves aren’t sure what will happen next. The result is a warped fun house mirror of referentialism: a collage of sounds that are at once familiar and yet also slightly alien in their combination.

Pastel Blank offers an opportunity for catharsis: today’s anxieties become tonight’s

reason to dance.