Frank Pahl

A true original, composer/musician/sound artist Frank Pahl spent his musical career in the underground, amassing a small cult following. Whether with his groups Only A Mother and the Scavenger Quartet or playing solo, he charms his public with lovely avant-garde melodies played on an impressive array of neglected acoustic instruments and homemade automatons. When he decides to write lyrics, they take the form of bittersweet stories. His music allies a naïve simplicity and a tasteful touch of amateurism (the result of using instruments that are difficult to keep in tune). His aesthetics belong to an unsuspected territory between Eugene Chadbourne and Pascal Comelade.



Born February 11, 1958, in Trenton, MI, Pahl chose to learn the euphonium (a smaller version of the tuba) in high school. This would be the first of many unusual instruments he would later add to his arsenal, including the harmonium (a pump organ), the ukulele, and the banjo, along with the clarinet, guitar, and piano.

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