James Pants: Welcome

James Pants is a multi-instrumentalist funk nerd

and producer from Texas who specializes in creating tracks that creep up on

people—raw, new-wavy snippets that turn into songs before anyone entirely

realizes it. "We're Through," the first single from his debut, features an

off-kilter cowbell riding a faded disco groove and supporting a minimal breakup

lyric sung as if Pants is bored with everything except the music he's making.

He clearly pays close attention to sonic details, and from the compressed,

dubby cymbals of "My Girl" to the hissing, translucent synths of "Prayers Of

The People" to the blaxploitation feel and springy keyboards of "Good Things"

to the cheap electro vocal effects and unsteady drums of "I Choose You," he

makes his many sonic guises come to odd, bouncy life. All of which helps make Welcome

the kind

of album that sounds more whole after it's been put away for a while, then

returned to circulation just to see what sticks in the memory.