The Pauses have always done things the old-fashioned way—even if those things take a little more time to gestate. The Orlando-based trio has been one of its region’s most consistently honored indie-rock groups in recent years, and for good reason. While many wannabe artists litter the web each time they put a musical masturbation to tape with the hope that some trendsetting blog will notice, the members of The Pauses gigged hard, developed their sound and raised enough dough to hire their hero, J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines), to produce their 2011 debut, A Cautionary Tale.
Released by tasteful Tampa indie label New Granada, the album is a sterling work of mature, intelligent music. With an expansive instrumental palette that contains rock, electronic and even orchestral hues, the band’s ’90s-influenced sound deftly marries airy indie-pop with angular post-hardcore in ways that are fluid yet complex, sweet but moody.
Thanks largely to the adhesion provided by the disarmingly smooth voice of Tierney Tough (a longtime scene supporter and founder of Orlando’s increasingly notable Orange You Glad Music Festival), A Cautionary Tale is a dance of seeming opposites that results in a record of dynamic intrigue—rather than the confused mess it could’ve been in lesser hands. And ironically, tastemaking blogs like My Old Kentucky Blog and Three Imaginary Girls ended up noticing the record’s craftsmanship and showering it with high praise. Weird how that works, innit?
What’s more, The Pauses’ concerts are known to be highly different and engaging. This time, the group is touring with its trademark “Interact-O-Vision” show, wherein audience members are allowed to live-edit the visuals during the band’s performance, via a simple keyboard pre-stocked with video clips and effects.
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