Pronto

Pronto is a project led by Mikael Jorgensen, who also plays with Wilco. Jorgensen, described as a New Jersey native who moves via Chicago and Brooklyn, records under the Pronto name alongside Greg O’Keeffe and, in the later line-up, Erik Paparazzi and Tunde Oyewole. The project develops out of a sequence of earlier collaborations that begin in Leonardo, New Jersey, where Movere Workshop forms in 1995 in the basement of a house.

Origins and early formation

Movere Workshop starts as an indie-rock project in 1995, with Jorgensen and Greg O’Keeffe among its early participants. O’Keeffe joins after arriving for a first rehearsal with microphones and now-outdated digital recording equipment. Jorgensen later moves to Chicago in 1998 and helps build SOMA Electronic Music Studios with John McEntire of Tortoise, where he works for several years. In 2000, Jorgensen and Chicago musician Chris Girard work on songs together and invite O’Keeffe to Chicago, creating the first version of Pronto.

Development in Chicago and Brooklyn

Jorgensen joins Wilco in 2002, touring on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot while continuing to develop Pronto. In winter 2006, O’Keeffe returns to Chicago for recording sessions that also involve Matt Lux of Isotope 217 and Iron & Wine, Jim Becker of Califone, and Russ Arbuthnot, who has worked at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studios. The group records All Is Golden in a Chicago loft. Jorgensen moves to Brooklyn in spring 2006, and Pronto continues with a rotating line-up built around Jorgensen and O’Keeffe, with contributors including Stuart Bogie of Antibalas, Kurt Uenala and Larry Brown.

Line-up and recordings

Pronto’s later line-up includes Jorgensen, O’Keeffe, Erik Paparazzi of Cat Power, and Tunde Oyewole of Childballads. The project releases All Is Golden on Contraphonic. The record is described through its sound and subject matter as a set of 1970s-influenced pop songs shaped by travel, change and a shift from difficult periods toward better ones.