Southpacific (colloquially, "SoPac") is a Canadian

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

band with prominent

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

leanings, originally based in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. Southpacific's guitar-oriented music is generally psychedelic in nature and filled with

reverb In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...

, yet at times contains sheets of noise and heavy drumming.

History

Southpacific's members are multi-instrumentalists Joachim Toelke (primarily electric guitar), Graeme Fleming (primarily drums/percussion), and Phil Stewart-Bowes (primarily bass guitar). The trio formed in 1997, began playing live in 1998, and went on to release two recordings on the

Turnbuckle A turnbuckle, stretching screw or bottlescrew is a device for adjusting the tension or length of ropes, cables, tie rods, and other tensioning systems. It normally consists of two threaded eye bolts, one screwed into each end of a small metal ...

label. Their self-titled 1998 EP/mini album (also known as ''33'') was supposedly recorded in a ski

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-su ...

. Southpacific soon relocated to the more musically-fertile community of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Full-length album ''Constance'' was recorded in early to mid-1999, and made it to stores in early 2000. The band never released any singles. The music was highly

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

-intensive, using many layers of guitar tracks and subtle samples to create a dense overall sound. Only one of the band's songs ("Built To Last") had vocals. They performed at the 1999 Canadian Music Week Festival, and embarked on a cross-Canada tour with

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

ers Tristan Psionic and

Crooked Fingers Crooked Fingers was an American indie rock band, led by the former Archers of Loaf frontman Eric Bachmann. A vehicle for Bachmann's songwriting, the band's lineup changed between each record. Crooked Fingers released albums on WARM Records and ...

between April and May 2000. The band's last performance was on August 26, 2000, with

band SIANspheric. Southpacific released ''Depths'', their first track since the disbandment in 2000, digitally on February 21, 2020. In February 2023 the band released an EP, ''Radar Road'', that was recorded in Toelke’s basement and produced by Fleming.

Post-breakup

After disbanding in August 2000, Toelke focused on an experimental recording project entitled Frihavn, which created a demo CD."Frihavn Demo .01"
''Exclaim!'', By Cam Lindsay Feb 01, 2002 Turnbuckle Records soon folded, leaving southpacific's albums both out of print. Fleming and Stewart-Bowes are both currently residing in Toronto, while Toelke has been living in Europe since 2003.

Discography

Albums

*''

Constance Constance may refer to: Places * Constance, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Constance, Minnesota, United States, an unincorporated community * Mount Constance, Washington State, United States * Lake Constance (disambiguat ...

'' - Turnbuckle 2000

EPs/Mini-albums

*'' 33'' - self-released on 15 August 1998; promo release (green cover) on Turnbuckle, 1999; re-pressed (purple cover) in 2000 *''Radar Road'' - 2023

Singles

*''Depths'' - 2020

References

External links

Southpacific
Official website *

''Eye Weekly'' coverage of the CMW showcas

at the Wayback Machine.

at eMusic {{DEFAULTSORT:Southpacific Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups disestablished in 2000 Musical groups from Ottawa Canadian post-rock groups Canadian shoegaze musical groups Canadian space rock musical groups 1997 establishments in Ontario 2000 disestablishments in Ontario