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Pacific Air Reveal Their Influences

05/28/2013
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(Radio.com) Most bands wear their influences on their sleeves, but Pacific Air tuck theirs away, hiding them within the many layers of their songs where they can only be heard with headphones.

Listen closely to the duo � comprised of brothers Ryan and Taylor Lawhon � and you might hear a bit of early '90s R&B or hip-hop. Pay even closer attention and you'll detect a little Enya. "If you took the drums out of any of our music, it could be a New Age song," Ryan, the oldest Lawhon, told Radio.com.

Thanks to their mom, the Lawhons grew up listening to New Age music. While no one is going to compare Pacific Air � who previously went by the name KO KO � to Enya, the guys say it's definitely an influence worth mentioning.

"Instead of abrasive rhythmic synths we tend to go for more sprawling, very stereo, soft synths," Ryan said. "Which is something heavily utilized in New Age music. It's something that provides such a nice layer and it fills up the sound without overpowering rhythmically."

The California band's unique blend of electropop, indie rock and (obviously) New Age has lent itself to a quick, almost unbelievable rise. Within 24 hours of releasing three songs on the music-sharing site Bandcamp, they were contacted by an eager blogger who had been trolling the site for bands with interesting artwork. They would later play this blog's SXSW party. And less than a week after uploading the songs, they were being wined and dined by eight different labels looking to sign the band.

While in the label meetings the brothers started to realize that A&R reps like to talk, and instead of putting in their two cents, it's best to just let them do their thing. Ryan even came up with a mantra, "stop talking," which eventually became the title for Pacific Air's debut, out June 11.

"It was a very odd, not really a game, but just trying to understand it and not screw anything up," Ryan said of the meetings. "And the less I say the less chance I have of screwing anything up as well." more.

Radio.com is an official news provider for antiMusic.com.
Copyright Radio.com/CBS Local - Excerpted here with permission.

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