Tom Lynch

New York songwriter Paul Schalda has broken through the Pavement-inspired glass shield that encompassed his previous band, AWEK, and has turned his head towards an acoustic-laden, folk-influenced project called Pablo, whose "Half the Time" marks a new direction for the artist, one which provides a fine foundation for his haunting and cigarette-roughed voice.

"The songs are really really old," Schalda says of the songs on the record. "When we went to the studio I absolutely wanted to record them live. I didn't want to do overdubs. I wanted to sound as [live] as possible, as close to a live performance."

It wasn't a conscious decision to make the record sound unlike anything he's done before. "I didn't go out of my way," he says. "Other than playing the acoustic guitar--which I didn't play with AWEK--there wasn't anything I was conscious of."

Depending on the acoustic guitar for the foundation to most of the songs provided a platform for his vocals. "The acoustic leaves more room for you to hear the vocals," he says. "It's not as loud. I wanted the vocals to be the main thing--the guitar was there to fill up the space, it was there to accompany the vocals. When you play super-duper-heavy rock, you end up singing differently. You try to overpower the instrument. It changes it a lot. It's just easier to hit the notes [this] way."

Schalda says he's unsure how coming from New York has affected his songwriting. "I've lived there most of my life, so I don't know," he says. "I know for a fact that most of the songs on the record probably don't sound like New York bands that come out."

A big part of Pablo's intrigue is family-oriented. Paul's brother serves a pianist, his wife sings backup, his father plays harmonica on the album and the brothers Strandberg (Michael and William) play guitar and drums, respectively. "There's no super-duper bickering," Schalda says. "If we get into a fight, it's not like `I'm never gonna talk to you again.' I have to see you, I'm your husband, I'm your brother. It's comfortable, so much easier. It's a lot of fun--I'm grateful to these guys for helping me do this, as talented as they are."

Pablo plays February 2 at Beat Kitchen, 2100 West Belmont, (773)281-4444, at 7pm. $10.

(2007-01-30)

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