SINCE RELEASING HIS DEBUT ALBUM ‘LITTLE GIANT’ IN 2014 TO CRITICAL ACCLAIM, PANES HAS RACKED UP AN EXCESS OF 30 MILLION PLAYS ON SPOTIFY AND OVER A MILLION TOTAL YOUTUBE VIEWS. HE HAS BEEN DESCRIBED BY UNCUT AS A ‘BRITFOLK PIN UP’ WHOSE MUSIC ‘TAPS A DEEP WELL OF FOLK HERITAGE.’ Q MAGAZINE HAS SAID PANES FINDS ‘A POSITIVE MESSAGE IN THOUGHTS BEST LEFT IN THE DARK OF NIGHT.’ NEW ALBUM ‘PAPERWEIGHTS’, IS EQUALLY TRUTHFUL, WITH A SOUND MATURED, RICHER BUT NO LESS AUTHENTIC.
“MY MUSIC COMES TO ME FROM SITUATIONS I FIND MYSELF IN,” PANES SAYS. “THOSE SITUATIONS CAN COME TO ME AS SONGS. IN TERMS OF FIRST PICKING UP AN INSTRUMENT, MY GRANNY WAS A CLASSICAL PIANIST – WE’D GO TO HER HOUSE, HEAR HER PLAY, AND RUN AROUND IN CIRCLES. AND MY MUM USED TO BE IN A TRAVELLING THEATRE COMPANY, SO I WAS ENCOURAGED TOWARDS CULTURE, TOWARDS THE ARTS.”
PANES’ UPBRINGING IN WIMBORNE, ONCE HOME TO NOVELIST THOMAS HARDY, PROVED MORE INSPIRATIONAL TO HIS WRITING THAN ANY SESSIONS IN THE COMPANY OF A PARENT’S RECORD COLLECTION. THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF DORSET’S OPEN SPACES – AND THOSE OF THE LAKE DISTRICT, A PLACE HE LOVES TO VISIT – HAVE BECOME WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC OF HIS CRAFT. THE PEACE, THE SILENT SOLITUDE: IT’S HERE THAT PANES FEELS MORE ALIVE WITH IDEAS THAN HE DOES IN THE HUBBUB OF HIS ADOPTED HOME OF LONDON. THERE’S A PASTORAL WARMTH TO HIS MUSIC THAT COULDN’T HAVE MANIFESTED HAD ITS ROOTS BEEN LAID WITHIN URBAN LIMITS.
THE NEW ALBUM SEES PANES WORK ONCE AGAIN WITH PRODUCER RUPERT COULSON – A MAN WITH NUMEROUS SOUNDTRACK CREDITS, AS WELL AS HAVING WORKED WITH PORTISHEAD, ROBBIE WILLIAMS AND OASIS. PANES SAYS: “I’M A REALLY BIG FAN OF THE IDEA THAT YOU DON’T NEED ALL THE STUFF YOU FIND IN A BIG STUDIO – IT’S ABOUT HOW YOU USE THE THINGS YOU DO HAVE. RUPERT HAD A LOT OF IMAGINATION, AND GOT A GOOD GRASP OF THE ROOM AND HARNESSED IT.”
PANE’S MUSIC IS SUCCINCT, HONEST SONGWRITING, FROM A PLACE OF DEEP PERSONAL EXPRESSION, RESONATING WITH UNIVERSAL TRUTHS AND VALUES. HIS IS A DEEP VOICE, ONE THAT SOUNDS AGED BEYOND ITS YEARS, AND YET, IT’S TELLING OF TIMELESS STORIES, ENDLESS HEARTACHE AND FOREVER LOVE. IT ASKS THAT WE ALL FIND THE RIGHT WAY TO SEE THE WORLD AROUND US.
