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Papa M: Ballads of Harry Houdini review – committed to evolution
Cult American musician David Pajo’s latest solo outing reflects his recent troubles but also his restless desire to change things up
Mental health issues and a motorcycle accident have made the past few years of Pajo’s output all the more emotionally resonant – and sometimes more stylistically varied (see his 2018 cover of Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spegiel). Two longer, more on-brand instrumentals, People’s Free Food Program and Thank You For Talking to Me (When I Was Fat), place his core talents – anchoring repetition and thematic evolution – front and centre. The closest thing to an actual ballad is Ode to Mark White, which finds Pajo husking like Tom Waits on a song that would not sound out of place in an Irish saloon.
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