A musician's paradise
5 great albums recorded at Panoramic House in West Marin
Marin County's natural beauty and easygoing pace of life has long attracted and inspired musicians. Otis Redding conceived of “(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay” near Sausalito's iconic houseboats. David Crosby's “Tamalpais High” finds two meanings for its title. One-time Fairfax resident Van Morrison found rich thematic material in the connection between Marin's green landscapes and the Celtic “haunts of ancient peace” in his imagination. And perhaps the calm atmosphere of Sausalito helped the squabbling members of Fleetwood Mac keep their cool while recording the megaselling pop masterpiece “Rumours.”
“Back To Moon Beach,” the new album from singer-songwriter Kurt Vile, belongs in this tradition. Released last Friday on the venerable Verve label, “Back To Moon Beach” was recorded mostly at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, an isolated studio in the shadow of Mount Tamalpais which hosts extended artist residencies and events such as a synth workshop with legendary Bolinas musician Suzanne Ciani earlier this month. The music on “Moon Beach” matches the lackadaisical pace of life in a California beach town. Marketed as an EP, “Back To Moon Beach” runs to nearly an hour of long, sumptuous guitar jams equally suggestive of the Grateful Dead's coastal psychedelia and the earnest heartland rock of Bob Seger and Tom Petty.
In addition to “Moon
Beach,” here are four of the best albums made at Panoramic House.
• Adrianne Lenker's “Abysskiss” (2018)
The frontwoman of the widely beloved New York rootsrock band Big Thief decamped to Panoramic House to record her 2018 breakout solo album, a spare and intimate collection filled with natural imagery of death, decay and rebirth. “When I hear the recordings, I really think of that place,” Lenker told Stereogum's Gabriela Tully Claymore. “And I really think of that time and it puts me at ease to think about that week that I spent with (the songs).”
• Cate Le Bon's “Crab Day” (2016)
The eccentric Welsh singersongwriter and producer has a deep Bay Area connection through performing with San Francisco singer-songwriter Tim Presley as one half of Drinks. (She also worked with Vile on “Moon Beach”). For her fourth solo album, Le Bon sought out Panoramic House to record “Crab Day” out of the desire to work somewhere “residential.” Once at the studio, Le Bon reputedly received visitations from a few of the ghosts believed to haunt the house, which may have influenced the music's spooky but curiously inviting tone.
• Jeff Rosenstock's “Worry” (2016)
This bracing album of anxious, political punk rock might be the only album on this list that doesn't sound like it was recorded in the middle of the wilderness. Rosenstock, whose music maintains a passionate following among young guitar slingers and basementshow denizens, sought out Panoramic after seeing an ad for it in Tape Op. His response upon arriving at the opulent space was appropriately punk: “When we walked in, I felt like I was in the Red Hot Chili Peppers,” he told VWMusic's Andrew Daly.
• My Morning Jacket's “The Waterfall” (2015)
“The Waterfall” was widely hailed upon release as one of the best albums by the longrunning Kentucky jam band, and the members point to the recording site as a major source of inspiration for its rugged, wide-open soundscapes.
“There was nobody for miles and miles, like a deserted paradise,” singer Jim James told Rolling Stone's Patrick Doyle not long after release. “At night, it was like you were inside the sky, the stars right next to your head.” (More recordings from the sessions were released in 2020 as “The Waterfall II.”)
Perhaps the calm atmosphere of Sausalito helped the squabbling members of Fleetwood Mac keep their cool.