Chime School

Chime School fuses the bright, ringing tones produced by electric 12-string guitar with nervy yet instantly catchy songs, thereby achieving its stated aim of refreshing the distinctive indie pop style once issued by the Sarah, Creation, and Subway labels throughout the mid- and late 1980s. Either the self-titled debut album released in 2021 or the 2024 follow-up titled The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel could plausibly have appeared on any of those imprints.

The project functions as the work of a single individual, Andy Pastalaniec, whose résumé includes stints in several Bay Area pop outfits. Early in the 2010s he handled drums for Pink Films, later joined the shoegaze band Cruel Summer, and subsequently occupied the drum chair in the dream pop group Seablite. Despite these commitments, Pastalaniec had long wished to helm his own ensemble; that ambition took concrete form once he acquired a four-track recorder in 2017. From that point he devoted himself to composing original material while sharpening his abilities in production, guitar playing, and drum programming. Intent on uniting his longstanding admiration for jangle pop stretching from the Byrds through the initial Creation Records era, he placed the electric 12-string guitar at the forefront of the arrangements. This sonic emphasis prompted the name Chime School, and the arrival of the global pandemic in 2020 supplied the uninterrupted time needed to complete a set of tracks.

Impressed by the results, Slumberland Records issued the self-titled debut album in November 2021. A handful of live performances in support of the record ensued, after which the project surfaced again in 2023 via a two-song single and then delivered its second full-length album in August 2024. That release, The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel, sustained Chime School’s jangly direction through a collection of upbeat power-pop numbers and bittersweet indie-jangle pieces.