Pullman is an American, studio-only,

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and predominantly

acoustic rock Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the ad ...

supergroup, formed in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

by Ken Brown, Curtis Harvey, Chris Brokaw, and Doug McCombs in the late 1990s.

History

Beginning as a collaboration between members of several notable 1990s rock bands, Pullman was formed in mid- to late 1997. The project stemmed from conversations between Ken Brown and Curtis Harvey during the recording sessions for Loftus' homonymous debut album and Rex's 1996 sophomore album ''C''. Ken Brown, ex-member of

Tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

and

Gastr Del Sol Gastr del Sol (derived from a combination of the name of a race horse (Gato del Sol) and David Grubbs' previous band Bastro) was an American, Chicago-based band, consisting for most of their career of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 19 ...

, and Curtis Harvey, from Rex and The Curtis Harvey Band, were joined by

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drummer and Come guitarist Chris Brokaw and Eleventh Dream Day bassist Doug McCombs. The project is an amalgam between band and collective, a vessel - as its name indicates- for its members to release acoustic music that did not fit their other musical ventures, as evidenced by the fact that individual members had compositions suitable for Pullman dating back to 1993. In addition to this, the members of Pullman have also collaborated on certain songs, composing them as a band. For the recording of their second album, ''Viewfinder'', the band was joined by drummer Tim Barnes, who has performed and worked by such acts such as The Tower Recordings, Jim O’Rourke, Silver Jews, and Nagisa Ni Te. Both albums, as Andy Kellman -writing in

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

- states, "were conceived in the spirit of the group's favorite acoustic guitarists, including Nick Drake, Leo Kottke, John Fahey,

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

, and Richard Thompson." Due to the band members' busy schedule and the fact that they resided in number of different cities -

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-, Pullman remained a studio-only project, leading to particularly short promotional tours which resulted in the band's semi-obscure status, best encapsulated in the epithetic manner in which

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...

refers to the band: "the little-known but excellent Pullman"

Influences

Pullman's influences have been both acknowledged by the band and noticed by the press, as evinced in Tim Ross' review of '' Turnstyles & Junkpiles'' in

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

magazine, in which he declares that " e quartet's plaintive plucking echoes the pastoral finger-picking of John Fahey and Leo Kottke, but Pullman's pensively paced compositions allow each note to glisten in tranquil isolation." Franklin Bruno, in his review of the band's debut album in ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

'', also detects these influences, yet -like Ross- Bruno notices the band's singular take on the form: "Pullman deals in neither im O'Rourke's layered orchestration nor ohn Fahey's edginess, the live-to-tape recording nsteadnicely capturing the largely subdued playing." The ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

'', on the other hand, places "Pullman usicallysomewhere near Town and Country or early

Gastr del Sol Gastr del Sol (derived from a combination of the name of a race horse (Gato del Sol) and David Grubbs' previous band Bastro) was an American, Chicago-based band, consisting for most of their career of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 19 ...

(which included

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

) in the vast interbred Chicago post-rock zoo."

Critical reception

Critical reception of the band's work has oscillated from the dismissive to the unambiguously praiseful, with the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

declaring ''Turnstyles & Junkpiles'' "a disappointing bore", whilst

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

has referred to the same album as "their excellent debut." The

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

's review of Pullman's first album stresses the uniqueness of the band's approach to the genre: "Pullman refuse to allow the comfortable and reflective drift off into reverie that would normally accompany such a scaled-down recording." Giant Robot magazine called ''Viewfinder'' "a great album combining some of the best in music", going on to list the band's members, detailing their respective pedigrees, as did Jean-Baptiste Dupin writing for

Les Inrockuptibles ''Les Inrockuptibles'' (), abbreviated as ''Les Inrocks'', is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. As of 2021, it returned to a monthly format. In the beginning, rock music was the magazine's prim ...

, describing Pullman " a land of suburbs, a small garden on the outskirts humbly handset by eight green hands".

Members

* Chris Brokaw * Ken Brown (a.k.a. Bundy K. Brown) * Curtis Harvey * Doug McCombs *Tim Barnes ''and collaborator'' *

David Pajo David Pajo (born June 25, 1968) is an American musician. He has played a wide variety of music, loosely fitting into several other genres such as hardcore punk, math rock, post-rock, electronica, folk rock and indie pop. Though a multi-instrume ...

Discography

Albums

*'' Turnstyles & Junkpiles'' (

Thrill Jockey Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago. History Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...

, 1998) *''

Viewfinder In photography, a viewfinder is a device on a camera that a photographer uses to determine exactly where the camera is pointed, and approximately how much of that view will be photographed. A viewfinder can be mechanical (indicating only direct ...

'' (Thrill Jockey, 2001)

Contributions to Compilations

*''"Karissa"''* on ''CHICAGO 2018... It's Gonna Change'' (Clearspot, 2000) *''"Three In The Morning"''* Chicago Underground Quartet cover on ''Plum'' (

, 2007) Limited edition box-set comprising ten 7" double A-side singles (* indicates track unavailable on any Pullman album)

References

External links

"Pullman - Turnstyles & Junkpiles (Thrill Jockey)"

AllAboutJazz.com - Review of Pullman's Viewfinder

Allmusic.com - Pullman biographical notes

Allmusic.com - Review of Pullman's Viewfinder

ThrillJockey.com

Pitchfork.com - Review of Pull's Viewfinder
{{Authority control Alternative rock groups from Chicago Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups disestablished in 2002 Tokuma Japan Communications artists