Pablos Eye

Pablo’s Eye started working as a collective in 1989, a flexible project in which additional members were always welcome to participate. Making music was important but sharing the same artistic attitude was the main focus. Their wish was to remain simple and open by mixing different musical forms, cultures, and ideas. Their common goal has always been to create a feeling of travelling in time and space, by going from past memories to future hopes. Their aim remains to express the ideal and explore the real through both personal and global stories.

P.E. have worked on all kinds of music projects, for such diverse employers as CBS/Sony, ZTT Records, the late President Fran?ois Mitterrand and the Japanese corporation Pioneer. They have been commissioned to compose the music for several works including, amongst others, one on architecture to celebrate the Olympic Games in Spain and one for the international graphic and architecture agency Traces, who wished to make a statement against intolerance. Both CDs, respectively “Barcelona, Architects of” and “Devotions”, were released on P.E.’s own label Celsius Blanco in 1991 and 1992. A CD of their own work, “You love Chinese food”, was given a worldwide release in 1995 through the Australian label EXTREME and critics worldwide have described this album as “a provocative puzzle that must be felt “, “deeply unfashionable and deeply brilliant” and “beguiling, constantly shifting music”. The CD was followed by two other releases on EXTREME – a 45-minute ep on CD entitled “You have a yearning for perfection” and remixes on vinyl.

P.E. have always created strongly-processed graphic imagery to complement their music releases. When they were asked to provide the music for Pioneer’s European-wide advertising campaign for their CD jukeboxes, P.E.’s Axel Libeert was hired to take over responsibility for the campaign’s art direction. This collaboration resulted in a CD single and 12″, “Prepare for the others to follow”, released in 1996 on Colin Newman and Malka Spigel’s label SWIM. The release contains remixes and reinterpretations by Daniel B. (of Front 242), Immersion, Ronnie & Clyde and Incarnate. After this project, P.E. were asked to compose the soundtrack for the CD-ROM Lest We Forget , which deals with the history of the Holocaust. It was awarded prizes at the BIMA (British Interactive Multimedia Association) in London and the Newmedia Invision Awards Festival in the USA in 1997. P.E. have also appeared on various compilations by EXTREME and T:ME/EM:T (“Em:t 2296″), and a limited 7” picture disc, “They had no alternative but to destroy her”, was released on the Austrian label SYNTACTIC in 1997.

P.E.’s next full length CD, “all she wants grows blue”, was released on SWIM in 1998 and was a collaboration with English writer Richard Skinner. Reviews of the album described the music as “intricate haunting soundtracks” that “drift in and out of consciousness”. This was followed in 1999 by a limited edition CD entitled “Realismo”, which was a collaboration between Pablo’s Eye and Vaughan Oliver’s design team V23.

More than anything, P.E. is a temporary atmosphere, like a taste or a dream.

Discography

Realismo (Surface To Air) 1999 – CD mini album
all she wants grows blue (Swim) 1998 – CD album
They had no alternative but to destroy her (Syntactic) 1997 – 7″ picture disc
Prepare for the others to follow (Swim) 1996 – CD mini album
Prepare for the others to follow (Swim) 1996 – 12″
Amb 7 (Extreme) 1995 – 12″
You have a yearning for perfection (Extreme) 1995 – CD mini album
You love Chinese food (Extreme) 1995 – CD album
Devotions (Celsius Blanco) 1992 – CD mini album (*)
Barcelona, Architects of (Celsius Blanco) 1991 – CD album (*)
Pablo’s Eye (Celsius Blanco) 1989 – CD album (*)

(*) Out of print

Several appearances on various compilations released by Extreme, T:me/Em:t and Swim.

Reviews

“Pablo’s Eye go well beyond most of what passes for Trance, Ambient and postmodern-always-rings-twice Fourth Worldism. Tenth World music anyone? Highly recommended.”

Paul Sch?tze – Wire

“Everybody’s favourite coffee-table album… This is bewitching, unclassifiable stuff.”

Simon Reynolds – Melody Maker

“What makes Pablo’s Eye stand out from the competition is their knack for mixing textures… Too bad the phrase “dream pop” has already been taken since it would be quite appropriate for this beguiling constantly shifting music.”

Lang Thompson – Option

“The effect is a strange collage of culture and impression that refuses to be ignored… A provocative puzzle that must be felt.”

Andrew Monko – Resonance

“A reminder of how diverse an album can be, and yet maintain a coherent stance… Deeply unfashionable and deeply brilliant.”

Denis Helium – The lizard

“Unique and graceful and utterly, utterly refined.”

Mathew F Riley – Immerse 001

“This is music for a late-night waking dream or a journey through uncharted territory.”

Chris Meloche – MetroTimes/Detroit