The Serpentine is the first album by SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL, the time-traveling, American-Swedish duo birthed on the island of Mallorca in the Valldemossa Valley by way of Barcelona by way of Bulbous Creation. 

SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL is Brandon Taj Hanick and Perhenrik Adolfsson with some help from Vasco Batista and Cameron Steuart.

Mo(u)rning

Easter Lockdown

Cold Rise

Seconds after Brandon Taj Hanick & Pancake Adolfsson met through mutual friends in Barcelona in May 2008, Pancake asked Brandon for a tow on the BMX Damo had let him borrow. Despite having literally just met, Brandon obliged. How could he refuse such an absurd request from a grown man?

The three rode like banshees through the madness of the city after dark, drinking customary ‘street beers.’ Debaucherous exercise.

The next night, Brandon and Pancake played an impromptu street show in Plaza Reial, originally to friends. Brandon played King of Prussia songs on his guitar with Pancake accompanying him on guitar case drums. It was magnetic.

A crowd formed and cheered and danced around them. The two decided that they had to start a band...one day.

Brandon moved to Barcelona three months later. Pancake was on his way to NYC, but he came back.

Haunting more Barcelona nights, the two bandied about making an album together for years. They made plans over Easter holidays in the hills with the gang. During their all-night excursions – somewhere between climbing Montjuic and jumping the fence into the zoo – they'd come up with band name after band name. Bulbous Creation was taken.

On tour together with their bands King of Prussia and Case Conrad, Brandon and Pancake talked about how they're definitely, seriously, for sure going to make this album...one day.

But the wanderers’ moved out of phase. One to New York, London and Mälmo. The other to Chicago, Atlanta and Athens. They were two ships passing in time. Until...

Brandon, along with his wife Shelly, returned to Barcelona.

A few hangs later, it was time. Time for the album Pancake and Brandon had been threatening to make for more than a decade.

Pancake was living in Mallorca. He’d taken up residence in a 13th century stone monastery, converted into cold, cramped apartments.

Brandon hopped a flight to Balearic bliss, and within those first four November hours, holed up in the flat that would become their studio home for the next five days, they created the abstracts for six of the songs that would become The Serpentine. They had never channeled music so effortlessly.

Recording in real time, they knew exactly what to play and sing -- even if they didn’t fully understand the lyrics yet. They were mediums; vessels. Perhaps they were conductors for the notes of Little Frederic Chopin.

Chopin had lived down the lane with his lover George Sand. He had come to Mallorca to get healthy. Was he onto something? No – his tuberculosis worsened thanks to his mal assumption that Mallorca was a tropical paradise. He hadn’t accounted for the island's cold, wet winters.

Neither had Brandon nor Pancake. When the small hours started to grow, they could see their breath inside. Pancake loaded Brandon's bed with a cartoonishly high stack of blankets, but it was still freezing.

Pancake told Brandon he could use the 1950s gas space heater...

"But DO NOT fall asleep with that thing on, man."

Balancing the danger with what felt like oncoming frostbite, Brandon would keep his eyes open as long as he could, turning the heater off at the last possible exit before Dreamtown.

He had never been colder. Pancake seemed to be used to it by now. It had become Withnailian.

But all day and night, they were men possessed.

Every song tapped into the mystical. And they’re not even hippies! They couldn't record fast enough to capture every beam. It was beautiful and strange and somewhat surprising, but also not at all.

They were onto something...but like…

The Serpentine is the first album by SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL, the time-traveling, American-Swedish duo birthed on the island of Mallorca by way of Barcelona by way of Bulbous Creation.

SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL is Brandon Taj Hanick + Per Henrik (Pancake) Adolfsson featuring additional musicians Vasco Batista + Cameron Steuart.

Recorded by SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL in Valldemossa + Barcelona + El Brull; Mixed + mastered by Jesse Mangum at The Glow in Athens.

Little Frederic

Mi Amor, Mi Corazón

Fair Weather Friend

Atumbäté

Seconds after Brandon Taj Hanick & Pancake Adolfsson met through mutual friends in Barcelona in May 2008, Pancake asked Brandon for a tow on the BMX Damo had let him borrow. Despite having literally just met, Brandon obliged. How could he refuse such an absurd request from a grown man?

The three rode like banshees through the madness of the city after dark, drinking customary ‘street beers.’ Debaucherous exercise.

The next night, Brandon and Pancake played an impromptu street show in Plaza Reial, originally to friends. Brandon played King of Prussia songs on his guitar with Pancake accompanying him on guitar case drums. It was magnetic.

A crowd formed and cheered and danced around them. The two decided that they had to start a band...one day.

Brandon moved to Barcelona three months later. Pancake was on his way to NYC, but he came back.

Haunting more Barcelona nights, the two bandied about making an album together for years. They made plans over Easter holidays in the hills with the gang. During their all-night excursions – somewhere between climbing Montjuic and jumping the fence into the zoo – they'd come up with band name after band name. Bulbous Creation was taken.

On tour together with their bands King of Prussia and Case Conrad, Brandon and Pancake talked about how they're definitely, seriously, for sure going to make this album...one day.

But the wanderers’ moved out of phase. One to New York, London and Mälmo. The other to Chicago, Atlanta and Athens. They were two ships passing in time. Until...

Brandon, along with his wife Shelly, returned to Barcelona.

A few hangs later, it was time. Time for the album Pancake and Brandon had been threatening to make for more than a decade.

Pancake was living in Mallorca. He’d taken up residence in a 13th century stone monastery, converted into cold, cramped apartments.

Brandon hopped a flight to Balearic bliss. Within those first four November hours, holed up in the flat that would become their studio home for the next five days, they created the abstracts for six of the songs that would become The Serpentine. They had never channeled music so effortlessly.

Recording in real time, they knew exactly what to play and sing -- even if they didn’t fully understand the lyrics yet. They were mediums; vessels. Perhaps they were conductors for the notes of Little Frederic Chopin.

Chopin had lived down the lane with his lover George Sand. He had come to Mallorca to get healthy. Was he onto something? No – his tuberculosis worsened thanks to his mal assumption that Mallorca was a tropical paradise. He hadn’t accounted for the island's cold, wet winters.

Neither had Brandon nor Pancake. When the small hours started to grow, they could see their breath inside. Pancake loaded Brandon's bed with a cartoonishly high stack of blankets, but it was still freezing.

Pancake told Brandon he could use the 1950s gas space heater...

"But DO NOT fall asleep with that thing on, man."

Balancing the danger with what felt like oncoming frostbite, Brandon would keep his eyes open as long as he could, turning the heater off at the last possible exit before Dreamtown.

He had never been colder. Pancake seemed to be used to it by now. It had become Withnailian.

But all day and night, they were men possessed.

Every song tapped into the mystical. And they’re not even hippies! They couldn't record fast enough to capture every beam. It was beautiful and strange and somewhat surprising, but also not at all.

They were onto something...but like…

The Serpentine is the first album by SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL, the time-traveling, American-Swedish duo birthed on the island of Mallorca by way of Barcelona by way of Bulbous Creation.

SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL is Brandon Taj Hanick + Per Henrik (Pancake) Adolfsson featuring additional musicians Vasco Batista + Cameron Steuart.

Recorded by SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL in Valldemossa + Barcelona + El Brull; Mixed + mastered by Jesse Mangum at The Glow in Athens.

The Serpentine

02 Where Have You Gone V2

Where Have You Gone?

Seconds after Brandon Taj Hanick & Pancake Adolfsson met through mutual friends in Barcelona in May 2008, Pancake asked Brandon for a tow on the BMX Damo had let him borrow. Despite having literally just met, Brandon obliged. How could he refuse such an absurd request from a grown man?

The three rode like banshees through the madness of the city after dark, drinking customary ‘street beers.’ Debaucherous exercise.

The next night, Brandon and Pancake played an impromptu street show in Plaza Reial, originally to friends. Brandon played King of Prussia songs on his guitar with Pancake accompanying him on guitar case drums. It was magnetic. 

A crowd formed and cheered and danced around them. The two decided that they had to start a band...one day. 

Brandon moved to Barcelona three months later. Pancake was on his way to NYC, but he came back.

Haunting more Barcelona nights, the two bandied about making an album together for years. They made plans over Easter holidays in the hills with the gang. During their all-night excursions – somewhere between climbing Montjuic and jumping the fence into the zoo – they'd come up with band name after band name. Bulbous Creation was taken.

On tour together with their bands King of Prussia and Case Conrad, Brandon and Pancake talked about how they're definitely, seriously, for sure going to make this album...one day.

But the wanderers’ moved out of phase. One to New York, London and Mälmo. The other to Chicago, Atlanta and Athens. They were two ships passing in time. Until...

Brandon, along with his wife Shelly, returned to Barcelona.

A few hangs later, it was time. Time for the album Pancake and Brandon had been threatening to make for more than a decade. 

Pancake was living in Mallorca. He’d taken up residence in a 13th century stone monastery, converted into cold, cramped apartments.

Brandon hopped a flight to Balearic bliss, and within those first four November hours, holed up in the flat that would become their studio home for the next five days, they created the abstracts for six of the songs that would become The Serpentine. They had never channeled music so effortlessly. 

Recording in real time, they knew exactly what to play and sing -- even if they didn’t fully understand the lyrics yet. They were mediums; vessels. Perhaps they were conductors for the notes of Little Frederic Chopin. 

Chopin had lived down the lane with his lover George Sand. He had come to Mallorca to get healthy. Was he onto something? No – his tuberculosis worsened thanks to his mal assumption that Mallorca was a tropical paradise. He hadn’t accounted for the island's cold, wet winters.

Neither had Brandon nor Pancake. When the small hours started to grow, they could see their breath inside. Pancake loaded Brandon's bed with a cartoonishly high stack of blankets, but it was still freezing. 

Pancake told Brandon he could use the 1950s gas space heater...

"But DO NOT fall asleep with that thing on, man." 

Balancing the danger with what felt like oncoming frostbite, Brandon would keep his eyes open as long as he could, turning the heater off at the last possible exit before Dreamtown.

He had never been colder. Pancake seemed to be used to it by now. It had become Withnailian. 

But all day and night, they were men possessed. 

Every song tapped into the mystical. And they’re not even hippies! They couldn't record fast enough to capture every beam. It was beautiful and strange and somewhat surprising, but also not at all.

They were onto something...but like…

The Serpentine is the first album by SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL, the time-traveling, American-Swedish duo birthed on the island of Mallorca in the Valldemossa Valley by way of Barcelona by way of Bulbous Creation. 

SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL is Brandon Taj Hanick + Per Henrik (Pancake) Adolfsson featuring additional musicians Vasco Batista + Cameron Steuart.

Recorded by SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL in Valldemossa + Barcelona + El Brull, Spain; Mixed + mastered by Jesse Mangum at The Glow in Athens.

Little Frederic

SLATERQUAIDQUETZALCOATL

Related tracks