Don’t tell the kids, but the electric guitar still possesses a hypnotic effect when utilized properly. A few weeks back we were put into a smooth trance by PIMMER’s galloping, sun-kissed single “I Loved That Day,” showcasing Boston songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Sanford Schaffer’s ability to quickly build worlds within his expansive indie rock sound.
Now PIMMER’s debut album Halcyon 303 comes into full bloom today (July 26) via Mint 400 records, and it’s a collection of 13 songs built around Schaffer’s collaboration with close friend and Grammy-winning engineer Ducky Carlisle Powell, the beloved Boston engineer who passed away last year. While PIMMER is a relatively new project, the DNA of the album and its sweeping spectrum of sound goes back years through Schaffer and Powell’s work together.
“It’s a collection of tracks from those particular years where there were no gigs, no tours and no band — I just wrote a lotta songs and recorded them with Duck,” Schaffer says.
The record is led by bouyant lead track and new single “Distant Dam,” filled with a vibrant power-pop ethos swirling around its core. It’s positioned with the aforementioned “I Loved That Day” as two inviting chapters into a larger sonic journey, as PIMMER presents a proper album of heightened storytelling in the age of the shallow, quick-hit single.
“‘Distant Dam’ was prompted by an economics article I read in a newspaper years ago,” Schaffer adds. “The notion that power for the lights and heat we all enjoy in our homes comes from a sort of ‘Neverland’ was bemusing to me. The image of a distant hydroelectric dam emerged… Lyrically, it discusses travel across the USA, between big cities, while acknowledging the immense power required to keep our way of life going. Meanwhile, the narrator, who has a more rootless existence, is holding court. Because this track seemed to resonate initially with listeners, it seemed natural for it to be the album opener.”
Start there and glide along.