Pete International Airport’s third album, It Felt Like the End of the World, is a triumph of process and vision. Named after a song by Peter G. Holmström’s other band, The Dandy Warhols, the eclectic project nails the elusive aesthetic of unexpected yet inviting sound art. The band’s quest to build immersive soundscapes that are also classic, catchy songs succeeds, in part, due to Holmström’s uncanny ability to curate and his penchant for dropping collaborators into challenging creative spaces―both virtual and actual―then letting them duke it out. Rachel Goswell from Slowdive, Alexander Hackett from Pang Attack, Dion Lunadon from A Place To Bury Strangers and the D4, and, none-other-than Tom Petersson from Cheap Trick (on 12 string bass), tangle with Peter’s usual coterie of musical foils. The results are folded into Holmström’s hyper-stylized world of symbols, themes, and archetypes.
