NICK PAGAN - HARDLY USE MY HANDS b/w IN A CAVE Vinyl 7"
On a quest to bring a certain prowess back into the Chicano soul and doo-wop of Southern California’s past, LA’s Latinx crooner Nick Pagan throws his heart in the ring, ready to make you feel the groove and heartache once again. Polishing off this sound and denoting it as “new-wop,” Pagan comes in with a certain charisma, and sometimes playful style. And, following his first career releases of last year, Pagan rides the sound with a new single, “Hardly Use My Hands.”
A based Latinx crooner, composer, psychonaut, and storyteller, Nick Pagan is a fast rising musician with an old soul. Pagan’s sound is what he describes as “new-wop,” encompassing lean songwriting, catchy hooks, colorful sonic palettes and classic sounds ripe to be sampled. From the opening hook of “Hardly Use My Hands,” his upcoming single, you get a sense that Pagan’s heart is rooted in the past with his fingers firmly on the pulse of the future. It’s no wonder that his debut singles have already caught the attention of KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, KROQ, Remezcla, and Talkhouse. His latest single drops May 21, 2021 on Pagan’s Yellow Stucco House imprint in association with Mixto Records and will be followed by a music video directed by Humberto Howard (whose credits include GRAMMY-Award Winners La Santa Cecilia, Juanes, and Phish).
Pagan explains his inspiration for the new single and reflects, “This song is about the constant search for self. I don’t care about age or any of that—level and acceleration of growth is determined by so many factors. And for me, I feel like I’m on a constant journey of discovering who I am and what that means in context of this reality. I’m determined to cover good ground this lifetime.” He adds, “This track is my 1970s rock ’n’ roll ballad side, inspired partly by Lennon’s solo career, Bowie, Neil Young, and frequent self-doubt. I try to make music that’s rooted so that it can grow the tallest and live the longest, so all my music is tied by a web of history really.”
Pagan explains his inspiration for the new single and reflects, “This song is about the constant search for self. I don’t care about age or any of that—level and acceleration of growth is determined by so many factors. And for me, I feel like I’m on a constant journey of discovering who I am and what that means in context of this reality. I’m determined to cover good ground this lifetime.” He adds, “This track is my 1970s rock ’n’ roll ballad side, inspired partly by Lennon’s solo career, Bowie, Neil Young, and frequent self-doubt. I try to make music that’s rooted so that it can grow the tallest and live the longest, so all my music is tied by a web of history really.”
“Hardly Use My Hands” is brought to life by Pagan with the help of Paul Butler (The Bees, Michael Kiwanuka, Nick Waterhouse, Devendra Banhart) who produced it. Otto Hauser (Devendra Banhart), on drums, alongside Ben Brandrett and Mike Rexhouse who threw down on guitar and bass