Pacifika

Pacifika is the multi-talented Silvana Kane, a Peruvian born singer, re-formed pop sensation (West End Girls), and accomplished actress with a love of flamenco, electronica, and textured percussion; Adam Popowitz a Canadian bred guitarist adept at new wave, classical, and pop, and a skilled producer responsible for a catalogue that includes indie rock and Armenian folk music; and Toby Peter, a dub wise bassist born in Canada and raised in Barbados, explorer of jazz, hip-hop, Latin, metal and Caribbean
grooves. Together the Vancouver based trio is making a new kind of global pop, music that nods to its diverse international influences, while forging its own unique voice. Jazz infused and Latin tinged, marked by gently flowing melodies, deep grooves, waves of cracking percussion and the occasional burst of exhilarating guitar noise, Pacifika's comfortable, complex sound defies categories, creating soothing soundscapes held together by Kane's smooth, intimate vocals.

Pacifika produced Asuncio´n in 2006, with the three partners working all night, eating, playing and writing together. Arrangements were done on the fly, as the songs evolved, and the trio's multifaceted influences came into play to create their own singular style. "We have a clear vision of our sound," Peter explains. "And we all have the experience and know how to fulfill the vision. We shared creative duties with minimal friction. We'd try different things until we caught a wave, then let it take us wherever it wanted to go."
The freewheeling music of Pacifika borrows from Latin America, Spain, North America and the United Kingdom to generate a positive vibe guaranteed to relax your nerves and uplift your spirit.

We look at Asuncio´n as a body of work, an album that takes you on a journey," Kane explains. "The songs flow and tell you a story, starting with 'Sol,' the rising sun, and ending with 'Las Olas,' the waves, lifting you up and floating away with you. Asuncio´n is the journey we all take back into the light." 

Sol (Sun)" sets the spiritual tone of Asuncio´n with its introduction. Soft, sustained organ-like guitars slowly build in volume and intensity, hovering in the background as Kane's lilting vocal drifts through the air supported by chiming guitar chords, a sexy, throbbing bass line and crisp snare accents.

"Me Cai´ (I Fell)" opens with a guitar line Peter plays on the bass, adding some low-end melody over Peter's booming, dance hall inspired drum loop. Kane's smoky vocal is full of youthful yearning. "The song is an inner dialogue," Kane says. "It's about coming of age and falling in love for the first time, with words, with nature, with life." A mellow drum'n'bass rhythm anchors "Sweet," a gentle ballad about the delirious sensations of falling in love.  "Paloma (Dove)" features Popowitz on flamenco guitar, a gypsy rumba beat, a synthesizer emulating the sound of an Andean flute, subtle dub effects and Kane's double tracked harmony vocals. "We spontaneously wrote that song one night at the end of a show when we were told we had to play another whole set," Kane says laughing quietly. "It was a 10 minute jam at first, but we trimmed it when we
got into the studio.

One of the album's most dramatic tracks, "Mas y Mas (More and More)," tells the story of a butterfly flying across the ocean to an inevitable end. The song is a duet between Kane's voice, representing the butterfly, and Popowitz's electric guitar, conjuring up a storm with a flurry of Hendrix-influenced waves of feedback. Other standouts include "Chiquita," a gentle samba that dances with a Cuban rhythm tapped out on the clave, "Oyeme (Hear Me)," a rock in Espan~ol tune that rides a fractured Latin rhythm laid down by electronic and acoustic percussion and "Libertad (Freedom)" a melancholy, late night ballad that echoes the sophistication of writers like Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer with its classic lyric of unconditional love and longing. Sparse guitar, subtle background rhythms and Kane's double tracked harmonies move the tune into a huge, echoing sonic landscape. "'Libertad' was the last song we cut for the album," Popowitz says. "At that point, we felt complete freedom to experiment with textures and sounds.  It shows what we can do, and where we'll be going on the next record." With such a wide palette of musical tastes Pacifika is poised to be Canada's freshest musical export.