What is Falcatross? (Brief Bio & History)
What is Falcatross? By Pete Fitzpatrick
The name Falcatross came to me in a daydream. Either it doesn’t mean anything, or it means a harbinger of good luck that can also dive bomb something. Either way, it’s something that Googles well. There is only one Falcatross. Easy to find. There for you.
The new record is called Sprung. It was written and recorded over the past four years or so, which were marked by a quest for new energy and momentum. Sprung celebrates the things that the promise of Spring brings. Songs about migration, rebirth, relativity, and of course, LOVE. Among other things.
There are Omnichords and bowed banjos, euphoniums marching with backwards drum-loops, a clarinet solo blowing through a Marshall stack, Moog bass lines tickling the toes of string quartets, harmonizing seahorses, asteroid elegies, and a lion roaring in the ocean. And more.
Most of the instruments on Sprung are played by me, with friends graciously lending their talents here and there: Chris Speed (Human Feel) on clarinet; Margaret White (Portastatic), on violin; Heather McIntosh (The Instruments) on cello; Jonti Siman (A Big Yes and a small no) on upright bass; and former bandmates Michael McLaughlin (The Pee Wee Fist, Naftule’s Dream), on piano; and Anna Johansson (TPWF, Green 4) on harmony vocals and handclaps. It was recorded in various locations in Brooklyn, NY, where Falcatross nests, and final mixes were done with Al Weatherhead (Sparklehorse) at Sound of Music Studios in Richmond, Virginia.
Live, Falcatross can be a solo affair, or it can involve any number of co-conspirators. Recent shows have involved guitar, bass, banjo, drum machine, cello, violin, accordian, sampler, bicycle wheel and tape recorder.
History:
Pete Fitzpatrick has toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe as a solo act and as a part of many different groups.
He studied music composition at Hobart College and guitar performance at Berklee College of Music. In the late 1900′s/early 2000′s he led the Boston experimental pop band The Pee Wee Fist, which featured a rotating roster of musicians and often included accordion, theremin, tuba, banjo, musical saw, alongside more traditional rock and roll instrumentation. While in Boston, he also played banjo in the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, guitar in Naftule’s Dream (avant-klezmer-free-jazz on John Zorn’s Tzadik label), and drums with disco-goth group Green 4.
Pete was also a long-time member of the art-country-rock band Clem Snide, playing guitar, banjo, euphonium, Omnichord, and tape recorder.
He has also lent his euphonium and trumpet skills to Apples in Stereo, Mary Timony, and Golden Smog.
Since moving to Brooklyn, New York in 2004, Pete has played under various names (both solo and with a band), finally settling on Falcatross for the Fall 2009 release of Sprung on Scone Tone Records. While in New York, he has played with various experimental musicians like Taylor HoBynum, Abraham Gomez Delgado, Zeno deRossi, Jessica Lurie, Raz Mesinai, and he is currently a member of the genre-bending Spider Monkey String Ensemble and the latin-cosmic-jazz big band Positive Catastrophe.
Pete was a fellow at the Sundance Composer’s Lab in 2004, and he is currently scoring an upcoming full-length documentary on outsider artist Eugene Andolsek.
