Track Listing

1. Lesson Learned
2. Amego
3. Fetus
4. Voices
5. Death to Birth
6. Botus
7. Sadartha
8. Alone
9. Fear Cloud
10. I Do

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135629 in Music
• Released on: 2007-02-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Album Description
All songs written by Michael Pitt except "Fear Cloud" and "Song One", written by Michael Pitt, Ryan Donowho, James Kallend, Indigo Ruth Davis and arranged by Luca Amendolara. Produced, mixed and engineered by Luca Amendolara in Milan, Italy, mixed at Excello Recordings in Brooklyn, NY. Mastered at "The Lodge" in Manhattan, NY by Sarah Register. "Fetus" and "Sadartha" were produced and mixed by Hugh Pool at Excello Recording, engineered by Ethan Donaldson and mastered by Ken Rich. Back-up vocals on "Death to Birth" by Susan Highsmith, back-up guitar by Christian Zucconi. Spoken word by Nicole Vicius. Back-up vocals on "Alone" by Jamie Bochert and Nicole Vicius. Violin by John & a Romanian gypsy we found on the Milan Metro. Recording for the album started in August 2004 and ended in February 2005 at Cellar Door Studios in Milan, Italy. It was produced by bassist Luca Amendolara and co-produced by Hugh Pool of Excello Recording Studios.

Customer Reviews

Debut Alt. Rock At Its Best
The debut self-titled album by Pagoda may not be an alternative rock masterpiece, but it does deliver with definite flare and strength. A key mix of grunge, punk, and uber-college rock is certainly worth a listen...

1. Lesson Learned - Easy choice for the first track. Melodic song with fluid flow. Pitt hits with his angst-fill lyrics, backed by superb drums. Everything works, which is why it's the single to the album. (4/5)

2. Amego- A definate punk inspired track. A strong bass line filled with fast delivered lyrics bellow throughout the song. "Blah, blah, blah, etc" is all Pitt says for a full verse, giving no doubt that this is an instrumental highlight for the band. The chorus line of 'Yeah yo ,Amego/I know you think I'm loco/So slow, I don't grow/ take me back to Mexico' is defiantly one of the most catchy lines you'll find on the album, much less rock music today. (4/5)

3. Fetus- Slow growing, anti/pro abortion song (or neither) that kicks in with strange, yet catchy precession. Again, Pitt shows his angst ridden side to his lyrics. He also shows the beginning of heavy lyrical content that has yet to fully develop. The cello is also a nice touch. (Now that I think about it, this could totally be a Nirvana 'In Utero' b-side.) (3/5)

4. Voices- Strange, paranoid track that lacks depth. Rhythms go everywhere in this one, aside from the in-your-face chorus that makes the track more than a one-track listen. This could have been a great track, but flow is definitely lacking. (2/5)

5. Death to Birth- The slowest, moodiest, most known, and likely most introspective song on the album, 'Death to Birth' breathes some fresh air into the slow rock that sadly Pagoda didn't explore any further in the album. I always felt distain towards the cello playing, but I guess it adds more atmosphere in the end. (3/5)

6. Botus- Funny, storyline lyrics by Pitt works nicely with the distorted grunge riff of a chorus. Some would consider this a filler track, but if you give it time you can tell that it really does deserve time on the album. Without a doubt 'Botus' has the most profound guitar riff on the album.(3/5)

7. Sadartha- I personally have never enjoyed this song at all. The melody is twisted and not catchy at all. The only fun part is the constant Arabian-like chanting paired with Pitt saying "Until we meet again" near the end of the track. (2/5)

8. Alone- Slow and grungy- just how I love it. Don't mean to compare Pitt to Cobain, but Pitt molds his lyrics towards the melody almost verbatim towards how Cobain would handle it. Only negative part is the out of place violin (or is it a cello) played around the middle of the track. This isn't exactly any we've haven't heard before, but it's the tempo makes it a personal favorite to me. (4/5)

9. Fear Cloud- Forgettable track that I don't even know why was even put on the album. Only lasts below a minute though, so it truly doesn't matter anyways. (1/5)

10. I Do- This was my personal favorite when it was released on their EP. Awesome bass line with a catchy guitar part, not to mention fun lyrics by Pitt and various moaning by anonymous ladies. After the 4:00 mark though, it switches to a strange spoken word/diary/LSD induced sequence running 10:00 or so. I love 'I Do', but I could certainly do without the spoken word stuff (leave that for MySpace.)
'I Do' (4/5). After the track (1/5)

One negative thing that I will comment on Pagodas debut is the lack of soft rock songs. Only 'Death To Birth' can be considered soft and thats been out for years now. I'm as hard rocking as they come, but a new slow, ballad-like rock song wouldn't hurt for variety . A plus I find though, is that every song is different. Take that Nickelback...

Another negative aspect I would like to point out is the bulk of the album. I don't think nine songs does it (I don't count 'Fear Cloud' as a song.) This is especially evident considering Pagoda released a demo in 2005 (free on MySpace mind you) with four of the nine songs on the demo also included on this album. Thats means it took them two years to create five new songs. I'm all for quality over quantity, but with all due respect, there should have been a few more songs made for this album. There's no doubt they have the talent.

Overall, I feel pretty happy with the end result of the album. They got angst-ridden when the wanted to. They got fun when they wanted to. The got experimental when they wanted to. And it all worked. No epics, no ballads, and no Generation X anthems- just straight up rock.

Rating: 3.5/5

Grunge with progressive and death rock threats
Formed around actor Michael Pitt, this '90s grunge throwback is stronger than a vanity project but not nearly strong enough to transcend its influences. Pitt's vocals - particularly the whisper-to-a-scream range -- will remind many of Kurt Cobain, as will the thrashing rhythm guitars and angst-filled lyrics. Where the band adds something novel are in touches of prog-rock (particularly noticeable in Ryan Donowho's drumming), death-rock overtones, and the cello playing of Indigo Ruth Davis.

Four of this album's tracks were released in 2005, leaving only six new tracks from the past two years (and that includes the 56-second "Fear Cloud"). In fact, the entire album was recorded in 2004, along with dozens of additional tracks that have yet to see release. The selected tracks rock hard, save the pained ballad "Death to Birth," often building from mid-tempo to cathartic crescendo. In the end, neither Pitt's voice or his songs resonate with the inner turmoil that erupted to the surface of grunge's greatest works, leaving Pagoda as fierce but not forceful. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]

Grunge reborn
Michael Pitt, more known for his cinematic work than musical, is a great songwriter and proves it with his band Pagoda. The effort is a solid album that can take repeated listening. The only thing to criticise is that it does sound like they want to be Nirvana. Saying that, they do have a less 'produced' sound than Nirvana ever had (the sound resembles Bellow's "Look Out! Bellow..." e.p.), and the inclusion of a cello-player in the band lifts the music above 'just another grunge band'.

Thurston Moore has put his name on the sleeve to support the band, a gesture of good will no doubt, because of the work he and Michael Pitt did together on Gus Van Sant's superb "Last Days".

Pagoda is an album I've listened to surprisingly many times. "Death To Birth" is a truly captivating and addictive song. It's the stand out track amongst many superb concoctions.

I hope to hear a lot more of Pagoda over the next years!