Pajo, Lenchantin Set Papa M Tour Plans

As first tipped here last month, former A Perfect Circle/Zwan member Paz Lenchantin will join her former Zwan bandmate David Pajo's Papa M project for a fall tour and new studio album. The U.S. portion of the trek begins Sept. 20 in Baltimore and wraps Oct. 27 in Champaign, Ill. Nine European dates will follow, beginning Nov. 4 in Copenhagen.

Pajo told Billboard.com last month he and Lenchantin had already written 10 songs together and that the new material will be the focus of the upcoming shows. Asked if the tracks resembled Papa M's recent forays into vocals or the act's more instrumental-leaning early recordings, Pajo said, "It's sort of a weird mixture between both. The songs were sort of written as instrumentals, as opposed to the other stuff that has vocals, which were all written around the voice. There's a lot of unison singing, Paz and I together."

Papa M hasn't released a full-length album since 2001's "Whatever, Mortal," but has issued three separate three-track singles this year via Drag City. A fourth single is expected in October.

"The idea was that since I was playing with [the now-defunct] Zwan so much, I didn't have much time to do my own stuff," Pajo said. "I was still writing all the time, but there wasn't enough to do an album. I thought it'd be cool to release a single every two months of things I'd done during breaks or over weekends. This is actually a six-CD set in the making."

Pajo would like to eventually compile a "best-of" single-disc CD featuring highlights from the singles series. Also in the works is a double-disc collection of rare tracks from Papa M and its original instrumental-only incarnation, Aerial M.

"We've been calling it 'AMPMS' - Aerial M/Papa M singles," he said with a laugh. "I'm looking forward to going back and hearing a lot of this stuff for the first time in a long time. There are a couple of things that only came out on compilations that are out of print."

The compilation will give the normally press-shy Pajo the chance to reflect on his ever-evolving career, which has included stints in such seminal underground acts as Slint and Tortoise. "Sometimes when I get nostalgic," he said, "I'll keep adding to this one article I've been writing to myself for a long time about the old music and the inspiration back then, and how it has changed from now."

Here are Papa M's tour dates:

Sept. 20: Baltimore (Fall Fest)
Sept. 30: Minneapolis (First Ave.)
Oct. 1: Milwaukee (Modjeska Theater)
Oct. 3: Newport, Ky. (Southgate House)
Oct. 4: Chicago (Abbey Pub)
Oct. 5: Indianapolis (Radio Radio)
Oct. 6: Nashville (the End)
Oct. 7: Memphis (Young Ave. Deli)
Oct. 8: Jackson, Miss. (Martin's Lounge)
Oct. 9: Austin, Texas (Mercury)
Oct. 10: Denton, Texas (Rubber Gloves)
Oct. 13: Tucson, Ariz. (Solar Culture)
Oct. 14: San Diego (Casbah)
Oct. 15: Costa Mesa, Calif. (Detroit Bar)
Oct. 17: Los Angeles (Spaceland)
Oct. 18: San Francisco (Bottom of the Hill)
Oct. 20: Seattle (Chop Suey)
Oct. 21: Portland, Ore. (Berbati's Pan)
Oct. 23: Salt Lake City (Kilby Court)
Oct. 24: Denver (Larimer Lounge)
Oct. 25: Lawrence, Kan. (Replay Lounge)
Oct. 26: Columbia, Mo. (Shattered)
Oct. 27: Champaign, Ill. (Cowboy Monkey)
Nov. 4: Copenhagen (Loppen)
Nov. 5: Arhus, Denmark (Vox Hall)
Nov. 6: Malmo, Sweden (KB)
Nov. 7: Goteborg, Sweden (Playground)
Nov. 10: Stockholm (Sodra Teatern)
Nov. 11: Helsinki (Tavastia)
Nov. 13: Oslo (Bla)
Nov. 14: Bergen, Norway (Sardinen)
Nov. 15: Stavanger, Norway (Checkpoint Charlie)