Pacifico’s Matthew Schwartz is not ‘Without Heroes’
Atlanta’s swooning indie pop collective Pacifico is self-releasing a new album on June 18.
After spending the past three years contemplating who his heroes really are, singer-songwriter Matthew Schwartz did what any musician would do: He wrote an album about the people in his life that inspire him the most. Translating the awe and appreciation for the people in his life through music, “Without Heroes” has been Schwartz’s labor of love, examining his own personal heroes.
After collaborating and touring with acclaimed rock bands of the south including The Almost, Copeland and Manchester Orchestra, one can understand Schwartz’s admiration for the company he keeps. Manchester Orchestra drummer Jeremiah Edmond is actually one of Schwartz’s best friends.
While Pacifico initially began with fellow Atlanta musicians, Schwartz says, “nowadays, it’s more of a collective.” As a collective, Schwartz’s project means collaborating with artists all over the country.
As for the band’s creative model, he “took notes from bands like Gorillaz and Bright Eyes and stuff like that.”
With many different artists on the album and countless numbers of musical inspirations, there is no limit on what Pacifico could be packing in their latest record.
In the age of technology and countless means of communication, Schwartz says his band is built on the idea of inclusion. He sees Pacifico as “a band for all people. That anyone can be a part of it in some way. Whether you contribute art or lyrics, instrumentals, song ideas, whatever. I like having different people being involved in some ways.”
As a hopeful leader of the collective, Schwartz still is able to note his own strengths and insecurities. “Lyrics are by far the hardest thing for me to write,” he says. “My forte is the melody and the chord structure of the song.”
With an album that is so personal to Schwartz, involving his own stories, friends and collaborators, what is his major takeaway from the creative experience?
“If you live in a world without heroes,” he says, “sometimes you end up making bad choices,” which is noted in some of the darker songs on the album such as “I Want To Love You Like I’m Sober.”
About the Author
Gerry Galipault Gerry Galipault debuted Pause & Play online in October 1997. Since then, it has become the definitive place for CD-release dates — with a worldwide audience.
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