Pastel Blank Photo credit: Kenza Vandenbroek
Montréal-based art-rock project Pastel Blank is gearing up for the release of their debut album, Unmade in Minutes, set for April 24 via Paper Bag Records. Led by singer and songwriter Angus Watt, the band has quickly made a name for themselves with a genre-bending psychedelic sound and tongue-in-cheek, clever lyricism. Pastel Blank are premiering the single “Dopamine,” a funky, synth-driven track that pairs infectious grooves with socially-conscious commentary.
“Unlike most of the songs on this album, where I came in with pretty fleshed-out demos, a lot of ‘Dopamine’ came together in the studio,” Watt explains. “The song started out with my attempt at a scratchy, Fela Kuti influenced rhythm guitar part, then Oliver [Hollingshead] and I jammed it out on the floor. Hanum [Yoon-Henderson], who played percussion on the album, laid down endless layers of congas, cowbell, woodblocks, shakers, etc., which became such a massive part of the song—and the whole record really.”
Watt describes the first three tracks of the album as “siblings” that all circle around themes of addiction and control—or the lack thereof. Acknowledging one of their musical touchstones, he cites Talking Heads’ Remain in Light as “an undeniable influence” on the track’s layered, rhythmic approach. He also points to a playful moment: a friend noticed a guitar riff toward the end of the song that echoes The Magic School Bus theme, highlighting the band’s quirky sensibility.
The accompanying music video, shot at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, features Watt dancing while wearing a prosthetic iPad headpiece created by the film crew. “It’s meant to show what your phone sees when you’re deep in a doomscroll,” he says, blending humor with a pointed commentary on modern habits.
With their clever, often humorously catchy approach to music and social observation, Pastel Blank continues to carve out a distinctive lane in Montréal’s vibrant indie scene.
“Dopamine” is out April 8, ahead of the full album Unmade in Minutes, arriving April 24 via Paper Bag Records.
Your music has been described as both tongue-in-cheek and socially conscious, often walking a line between satire and critique—when you’re writing, do you start from a place of humor or commentary, and how intentional is that balance?
ANGUS WATT: Humor feels like a more natural starting point for me and Pastel Blank rather than going into writing something with aims of producing commentary, though it’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation for some of the songs on this record. Like “how can I write about this subject in a way that balances tongue in cheek with serious?” I think contradictions and tension play a big role in Pastel Blank.
The video for “Dopamine” features you wearing a prosthetic iPad headpiece, incorporating footage of vaping and doomscrolling to reflect modern-day dopamine fixes. How did the concept for both the track and the video come together?
ANGUS WATT: I didn’t have to look very far to gather inspiration for the lyrical content of “Dopamine.” Quick cheap dopamine fixes are abundant! Musically, Fela Kuti, Parquet Courts and Tatsuro Yamashita were all part of the inspiration soup.
The music videos for this album were made with a fantastic crew in Vancouver (including, Patrick Macht, Micah Bray, and Bray Jorstad), who were all game to work with and build on the ideas I had for the videos. They constructed the prosthetic iPad headpiece, and we filmed up at Queen Elizabeth Park as the sun was setting, much to the bemusement of most passersby. The idea was your phone’s POV as you fall into a doomscroll – that moment where you catch your reflection in a smudged screen and think “My god…”
Where does the LP’s title Unmade in Minutes come from, and how does it connect to the themes or ideas explored across the album?
ANGUS WATT: The title is from the song “Radiator”:
“Left the blueprint / on the table
A piece of paper / incinerator
Meaning maker / unmade in minutes
I just can’t shake it / I just can’t shake it”
As people, we are very adept at narrativizing our lives in order to make sense of events, hence “meaning maker”. This album is largely about loss of control, and giving up our positions as the writer and becoming recipients of action guided by outside forces.
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