New York, NY (Top40 Charts) LA based Latinx crooner, composer, psychonaut, and storyteller, Nick Pagan is a fast rising musician with an old soul. Pagan's sound is what he describes as "new-wop," encompassing lean songwriting, catchy hooks, colorful sonic palettes and classic sounds ripe to be sampled. From the opening hook of "Hardly Use My Hands," his upcoming single, you get a sense that Pagan's heart is rooted in the past with his fingers firmly on the pulse of the future. It's no wonder that his debut singles have already caught the attention of KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, KROQ, Remezcla, and Talkhouse. His latest single drops May 21, 2021 on Pagan's Yellow Stucco House imprint in association with Mixto Records and will be followed by a music video directed by Humberto
Howard (whose credits include GRAMMY-Award Winners La
Santa Cecilia, Juanes, and Phish).
Pagan explains his inspiration for the new single and reflects, "This song is about the constant search for self. I don't care about age or any of that—level and acceleration of growth is determined by so many factors. And for me, I feel like I'm on a constant journey of discovering who I am and what that means in context of this reality. I'm determined to cover good ground this lifetime." He adds, "This track is my 1970s rock 'n' roll ballad side, inspired partly by Lennon's solo career, Bowie, Neil Young, and frequent self-doubt. I try to make music that's rooted so that it can grow the tallest and live the longest, so all my music is tied by a web of history really."
"Hardly Use My Hands" is brought to life by Pagan with the help of Paul Butler (The Bees, Michael Kiwanuka, Nick Waterhouse, Devendra Banhart) who produced it. Otto Hauser(Devendra Banhart), on drums, alongside Ben Brandrett and Mike Rexhouse who threw down on guitar and bass, respectively. Pagan highlights, "The bassline really brought this to life and the guitar solos—who the fuck else you know plays like that these days?"
Pagan's wisdom comes from his wealth of life experience growing up in California. He concludes, "I'm a true Californio, having spent time in all parts of the state." Pulling from a wealth of life experience, and the memory of his family being displaced by gentrification in L.A., there's a deep well of substance to his songs, but they never lose the sense of optimism and joy that's part of his DNA.
"Hardly Use My Hands" is out on May 21, 2021 on Yellow Stucco House in association with Mixto Records and will be part of the MAN (Or, Microdose) EP coming out later this year on vinyl and digitally.
