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Reviewed by Bing Turkby

Anto Pascoe: To Escape

Reviewed by Bing Turkby

Anto Pascoe: To Escape

An Eno-esque headtrip, a wash of textures drenched in reverb and delay. Synth and drum machine actually suit this style really well, harking as it does back to good ol’ 1980s. I know this for sure because it’s available on cassette. Hell, I bet this sounds great on cassette! Anto Pascoe is guitarist / singer Anthony Pascoe, who dedicated fans of Kiwi music will likely remember from his Pastic Paco days, a Christchurch trio that released a couple of pleasingly gentle albums. Here he is much more alone (aided by David Fransisco on bass) and rather more exposed. While not quite reaching the bleeding-heart emotion of Ultravox’s Vienna, this album is still able to sweep you up and away into the stratosphere, particularly if you’re listening on headphones. There’s a Knox-ian quality to the drones, and an unfussiness to the production, a totally laid-back disregard for changing where you think it might change, an unconcern for hitting notes exactly – in preference of hitting the emotion.