From his days obsessed with Metallica, to playing in a mambo band called Latin Pimps in college, to actually running away with the circus to play the guitar, Robert Gomez has had a colorful musical history. Though Gomez has veered away from his Brazilian and Cuban influences in his solo music in exchange for a more dreamy, indie pop sound, subtle traces of Latin music are still detectable. "It's in the rhythm, the orchestration, and in the choice of instruments like using the tres guitar or percussion instruments like a zabumba or a pandeiro here and there," he says. "Oh, and I also say ¡Sabor! a lot," admits Gomez . This Denton, TX native also looks to his immediate surroundings — the fireflies, "thrift store oddities," and non-fiction books — as inspiration for his imagery-laden third solo LP.
Notably, Pine Sticks and Phosphorous is the first of Gomez's LPs to be recorded almost entirely in a professional studio. Though Gomez is technically a "solo artist" and writes the songs, parts, and arrangements on his own, a number of talented musicians join him on the record, including Sarah Jaffe, and members of The Polyphonic Spree, Midlake, and Postmarks, giving Pine Sticks and Phosphorous an impressive, full band sound.
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