Biography

Essentially the solo project of Seattle-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Paul Hiraga, Downpilot released several critically lauded albums in the U.S. in the mid-2000s before finding European success in the early 2010s recording for Germany's Tapete Records. On albums like 2011's New Great Lakes and 2015's Radio Ghost, Downpilot's graceful, languid music is informed by elements of folk, slowcore, and modern psychedelia, with Hiraga's personal but impressionistic lyrics reinforced by calm yet powerful soundscapes. He returned in 2023 with The Forecast, a tightly crafted set with a ruminative tone. Despite attempts to operate as a full band, Downpilot's early releases, 2001's Thrive in a Short Season EP and the 2003 full-length Leaving Not Arriving, featured Hiraga handling much of the instrumentation. Among his few collaborators from this period were Jeff Brown (drums, bass), Eric Eagle (drums), Anne Marie Ruljancich (violin, viola), and producer Tucker Martine, who also helmed 2006's Like You Believe It. While Downpilot's albums drew critical praise, they remained something of a niche act in the U.S. Released in 2009, They Kind of Shine, which again featured production from Martine and mixing my Steve Fisk, marked Hiraga's first album for the German label Tapete Records. Over the next few years, Downpilot would develop a loyal following in Europe that eclipsed their low profile in the United States, to the point that Tapete also reissued their previous releases. Hiraga opted to perform and engineer most of the music himself on 2011's spacious and melancholic New Great Lakes, a trend that would come to define much of his work going forward. 2015's psychedelic-leaning Radio Ghost was inspired in part by Hiraga's father's childhood experiences in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. Again operating more or less as a solo venture, 2018's edgier This Is the Sound was engineered and mixed by Hiraga with occasional collaborators Brown, Mike Musburger (the Posies), and Terry de Castro (the Wedding Present) helping out instrumentally in the early stages. Hiraga returned after a five-year gap with 2023's The Forecast. His seventh Downpilot outing, it was again self-recorded and mixed, and presented a fairly diverse array of his signature styles, from thoughtful midtempo pop to more experimental yet still melodic rock. ~ Mark Deming & Timothy Monger, Rovi