It’s a weird sensation

Music Row
By Brian Rademaekers

Listening to the 14 tracks on Remote Islands’ 2005 album Smother Party is like embarking on a bizarre odyssey into the dreamlike world of Colin Pate.
Pate, a Fishtown resident, pretty much is Remote Islands and recorded the Isota Records album over a three-year period at various studios in Boston and Philadelphia.
In all, nine of Pate’s friends contributed to the album, playing instruments ranging from keyboards and organs to cellos and violas. Pate weaved together bits and pieces of those performances as he saw fit, meshing them with his own vocals, guitar, bass, drums, piano, organ and synthesizers to create Smother Party.
The result is a collection of songs that have an amazingly personal and intimate feel, almost as if the album drifted unaltered from a dream to recorded form.
While the album certainly seems to draw influence from particular artists and genres, the work as a whole is highly unconventional, original and fun.
That format, no doubt, will put off some listeners. In essence, Smother Party is hard to define and draws little comparison to other albums.
It is also Pate’s first foray into the world of recorded music, and is best described as a sort of experiment. And as full of experimentation as modern pop music may be, not all of them are entertaining.
Smother Party is, however, and it only seems to get better with each listen. The first track, Reveille, wanders through a minute-long, schizophrenic collage of sound effects, slide whistles and static before Pate stumbles onto anything resembling a pop song.
From then on, the listener is taken into the dreamy, circus-like world carved out by Pate and his friends. It is a world of disjointed humor, softly chanted ballads, funky dance beats and a bizarre kind of beauty.
Pate’s vocals have the feel of Daniel Johnston — casual and slightly insane. Beck-style electronics and dance beats populate some of the more upbeat songs. And on others, Pate summons a coolness reminiscent of Velvet Underground’s 1967 I’m Waiting for The Man.
In some instances it could be said that the three years and 10 musicians that went into Smother Party created an album that moves in too many directions at once. But that overstuffed quality is part of the charm of the album; it is literally smothered with sounds and ideas that build up the rich and varied soundscape.
Constantly Changing, a captivating tale of a man on the brink of love and lost in indecision, is probably the most coherent of Smother Party’s tracks, with an identifiable lyrical theme tied together by tight guitar riffs and a rhythmic bass line.
Even if it is a bit of a love song, it is a love song wrapped in psychedelic layers and accented by Pate’s otherworldly vocals.
A handful of songs, such as Rockaway’s Burns Tonight, are full of playful energy and upbeat keyboards and have a decidedly electronic edge.
One of the best tracks, Spectre on the Nearest Hill, is a spooky, prophetic ballad with Bright Eyes tinges in the piano and Connor Oberst-style angst riddled throughout.
Packed with colorful gems like these, Smother Party is a twisted and informative tour through Pate’s creativity that begs a follow-up. That sequel is due out soon.
Pate has boiled his original ensemble down to four members, and the quartet has been busy laying down tracks for a new album likely to be released in early 2008.
Pate says the new songs are sparser, more repetitive and "even weirder" than those on Smother Party. For now, the only way to get a taste of the new works is to see Remote Islands live. This Sunday, Pate and his fresh setup will be giving Philly fans a taste of their new songs at the North Star Bar, joining fellow local rockers the Greyhounds and the Bad News Bats. ••
Check it out!
Who: Remote Islands
What: Fishtowner Colin Pate with his new four-piece, offering a collection of bizarre and beautiful songs
Where: The North Star Bar, 27th and Poplar streets in Fairmount.
When: Sunday, July 29. Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets are $7.