Tape-warped phantom band Rangers finally unleashes the grainy, soaring, expansive prog-pop opus long rumored to be percolating inside the fretboard/mind of multi-instrumentalist maestro Joe Knight. The north Dallas-raised, San Fran-based musician grew up taking classical guitar lessons from a dude who claimed to have ‘toured with the Dead,’ and some of that hazy jam subtext clearly seeped into the young Knight, who began recording his own loose, lo-fi jangle experiments in 2005. But whereas last year’s critically lauded Suburban Tours LP found him condensing his cassette-crushed alien pop into 3 minute radio nuggets, Pan Am Stories uses the reverse strategy, letting each blurry melody ride the breeze through open space before steering it around a bend or bridge. The extra breath gives these 13 songs a sense of freedom and flight, layered in blankets of fuzz, reverb, and samples. Have been soaking these tracks non-stop since first hearing the demos this summer and are thrilled to share Stories with the world. Mastered by Carl Saff. 4-panel full-color CD digipaks with micro-collage art by Knight; interior artwork by Knight and Anthony Yuen.

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