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Premiere: Pampa’s “When The Dawn Is Gone”

Release date: August 9th, 2019

Dan Ray August 9, 2019
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Premiere: Pampa’s “When The Dawn Is Gone” August 9, 2019

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

Photo courtesy of Pampa // Photo by Maddie Rogers
Today, in anticipation of their sophomore album, Seattle psych-rock quintet Pampa drops “When The Dawn Is Gone,” the first single off their upcoming LP, La Contumacia.

The first track on La Contumacia — which translates to “the contumacy,” meaning “a stubborn refusal to obey or comply with authority” — “When The Dawn Is Gone” opens with a calmly lilting tirade of psychedelic, fuzzy guitars that immediately bring to mind cool, end-of-summer nights wrapped in the nature of the PNW.

Frontman Moon Baillie soon comes in with a vocal melody lightly crooned over the top of the guitars provided by Baillie and Pampa guitarist Kerrick Olson. As Baillie sings, “the arrow invites you / to go this way / and I carry my curiosity / like a map,” there’s a present yearning in his voice, like he’s both following the arrow and the arrow itself. He guides the listener through some unknown path as the soft, cooing “ahhs” from Olson and keyboardist Nate Rogers delicately push forward, enveloping you in a blanket of warm safety that assures you following Baillie is the correct trail.

Drummer Steve Lykken and bassist John Carlson round out the quintet and provide an undeniable stability to the last minute of the track, where the formerly fuzzed-out, lackadaisical guitars become the culmination of your journey. Slowly, the fuzziness becomes more menacing — but also stays equally comforting — much like the certain unsettlement Daenerys Targaryen feels walking through the House of the Undying. It’s foreboding, but something carefully nudges you through.

In crafting each of the songs on La Contumacia, Baillie, an immigrant from Buenos Aires, Argentina, focused on pinpointing a specific moment and feeling of his American experience. “When The Dawn Is Gone” seemingly captures that initial descent into PNW culture — a bit sure, a bit roamy, and a lot of adventure.

As the guitars fade out on “When The Dawn Is Gone,” leaving only static, so does the world Pampa drew around you. The space the end of the track creates leaves you peacefully disoriented, ready to dive into the next tune, whatever mood it may be.

“These songs document times,” said Baillie. “I mean, they have structures, formulas, esoteric reasonings, but they capture a mood in its inception.”

Take a listen to the track below, and stay tuned for the full drop of La Contumacia, out October 11th.

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Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).