Pale Di'an

  I was doing prep for this show for fucking weeks it seems. Their old name was Black Stone Rangers and they are from Texas. It struck me as so strange for them to have Black Stone in their name. Its a risk to wear their shirt with their old name in Chicago.....and its a great looking shirt. So they changed their name. Pale Dian is their new name.  And just like that, one less excuse to get shot in Chicago. I feel safer with their new shirt with the new name. And also Ruth, the singer/keyboardist also changed her hair blonde. They were playing The Burlington touring for work that they will officially release in 2016 I think.  This show was in December of 2015. My Mac is barely functional now making it impossible to write from it. Anyway,....nothing to do with the band.  They are from north Texas. They got this brand of clean electronic sweetness that can bluntly strike you with nostalgic shadows as you are dancing. This would be really wonderful to dance to at a goth night. I think they are brilliant. Their old label under the old name had them in the company of all these shoegaze bands. Every time they played Chicago it was with another band somehow tethered to that name as well like Panda Riot and Videotape., Sister Crystals.  Not a bad lot to have around.....but they are those....shoegaze people.
  I  hesitate to call them pop. Electronic, space-noise pop....yeah, that's better. Floating in space in wonder of how the random sounds arrange themselves. In a Day I remember fondly. Its on the three track CD and now there is a beautiful video of it on youtube. Each track is its own floating happy sphinx. Everything that I enjoy about this band is very concentrated in that one song, spacey,  and mysterious. It really can frame the moment into its influence. My memory of this track stretches to that December at Burlington. This one made me their fan again. I know comparisons to the Twins may sound common enough from me, but for real. If this was my first time hearing them, In a Day would have had me in seconds. I think they are scheduled to return to Chicago at Empty Bottle July  2016.  The CD they had available in December had just three songs and they were all brilliant, singular. Nothing telegraphed,....I was glad to know they had new work. The three tracks were like different trailers for a movie you plan on seeing. You want to know the complete work. And so it is with me and Pale Dian.

They are too cleanly electronic to call them shoegaze. When I think shoe gaze, I think....fuzziness, a fog, and all that implies mystery. And they are very mysterious sounding, especially their new work. In interviews Ruth mentions listening to Cocteau Twins in the morning. That is how they strike me live, especially with their new work. Its a mission to see them this July.
Zig