About Me
READ TOUR BLOG HERE!
Booking Info:
E-Mail: capillaryaction at gmail dot com
About:
Capillary Action’s amorphous sound mixes disparate influences, unpredictable song structures, meticulous arrangements, and unique instrumentation with catchy melodies, personal subject matter, and an abrasive, often confrontational energy. With ties to both Oberlin College and the Philadelphia experimental rock community, the group-- led by composer/guitarist Jonathan Pfeffer-- currently has three records available on Pangaea Recordings.
Capillary Action's 2004 debut, Fragments was heralded by media outlets the Wire, Time Out New York, and Pitchfork Media upon its release. Conceived when Pfeffer was but the ripe old age of 17, this genre-defying expedition deconstructs the worlds of metal, noise, bossa nova, no wave, and free improv and reconstructs them into fractured compositions that seductively draw listeners in, only to unravel and collapse on them.
The second proper Capillary Action release, So Embarrassing sees Pfeffer expanding the eclectic template he fashioned on Fragments. Exchanging the repetitive nature of Fragments in favor of an inhumanly precise and succinct compositional method, So Embarrassing incorporates a much more varied and lush sonic palette with the introduction of strings, horns, electronics, percussion, and vocals to accompany this song cycle of deeply personal accounts. Recorded with the Capillary Action live band of two years (Ricardo Lagomasino on drums, Spencer Russell on bass, and Kevin McHugh on keyboards), the album is set for release later in 2007.
The third Capillary Action record, Cannibal Impulses, was conceived simultaneously with So Embarrassing. The project is a sensory overload multimedia extravaganza which will see the Capillary Action sound uniting dense, sampled-based compositions with synchronized video pieces. The CD/DVD is set for release sometime in 2008.
The group's intense live show can't be discounted either; in the last 2 years, Capillary Action has also toured relentlessly, performing alongside acts as diverse as USAISAMONSTER, Cheer-Accident, Daughters, Cold Bleak Heat (Paul Flaherty, Chris Corsano, Matt Heyner, and Greg Kelley), Kayo Dot, The Dead Science, An Albatross, Anathallo, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Yellow Swans, Torche, Enon, Heavy Heavy Low Low, Ecstatic Sunshine, and Zs, among others. Recently, Capillary Action served double duty as both opening act and backing band for Fugazi bassist Joe Lally on a tour of the Midwestern U.S.
Capillary Action will be touring the U.S. extensively this fall with legendary Czech band Uz Jsme Doma, Joe Lally from Fugazi, Dos (Mike Watt and Kira Roessler), as well as select dates with Modern Life is War, Stay Fucked, and Hi Red Center.
Press Quotes:
Musical fragments are layered one upon another, or put end to end and overlapped, resulting as often in dense polyrhythm as they do in deliciously intertwined melodic lines. - Nick Southgate, The Wire
Fragments is a nifty guitar record that plays well with different moods and feels, making for a cohesive whole that flows from track to track in an almost suite-like fashion. It's an assured debut, and Pfeffer is a clearly talented musician who bears watching to see where he'll take his craft. - Joe Tangari, Pitchfork Media
Capillary Action sounds like the product of a restless but focused mind. Ethereal, pleasant passages narrow into trance-inducing loops before opening up into sonic squalls. The music pulls you in, lulls you into a false sense of security, then smashes you over the head. In a good way. - Alan Paul, Guitar World
Its impressive that Pfeffer managed to make an instrumental guitar rock record with a lot of genre-changing and without a single style to call its own (there is no Capillary Action sound in the same way that there was a Don Caballero sound). Pfeffer's songs are compact, and they're full of unexpected changes rather than endless repetition. - Charlie Wilmoth, Dusted
Also of note is Capillary Action, Philly native Jonathan Pfeffer's project, and a complete in-house production. Pfeffer records on his own label Pangaea, which promises to be an important support base for quirky math-/art-rock groups everywhere. [Capillary Action is] reinvigorating a genre that's long been home to scores of Albini clones, and it's all happening in our own backyard. - Catherine Tung, Philadelphia Weekly
This is a flailing, impossible to pin down album. It's the sound of a musician plowing through prog, metal, post-rock and jazz influences with a reckless, unnervingly swerving abandon. - willcoma, Tiny Mix Tapes
Fragments is a rubber ball, bouncing about four walls and a stained-glass roof, each impact reshaping it into some wonderfully different object. This is the sound of a musician left to his own maniacal devices, and an album that's certain to leave the senses spinning and the stomach nauseous. If confusion died and propped a headstone, the carving would simply read "Pfeffer." - Mike Diver, Drowned In Sound
Want music to accompany a space battle? Check. Rainy sidewalk café? Check. Industrial warehouse rhumba? Got that, too. And these mood changes arent cued by song; they occur within songs, so while "Fragments" is fragmented, its various styles are remarkably adhesive. Capillary Action is no wet towel, but Pfeffer and the bands innovative talent is certainly absorbing. - Erika Fredrickson, Missoula News
