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Panda Band This Vital Chapter
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The Panda Band, a clump of Australians towing a jagged procession of musical linearity, seem to know nothing of the word "reservation." Their songs wail with feverish abandon and trample over sonic expectations like a monster truck in a china shop. It is this type of charge that leads their fearless debut, This Vital Chapter.
Track listing:
01 Paragraph 1: Hibernation
02 High In Your Saddle
03 Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town
04 Eyelashers
05 Spanish Bride
06 Musical Chairs
07 Lovely Shoulders
08 A Call To Your Arms
09 Ghosts Have The Best Time
10 We've Got The Face Of The Earth
11 The Jaguar
12 Signing Off (We're Almost Not Even Here) Part 1...
Captured by a pension for adventure that pours more into the music than it slurps away, This Vital Chapter crams a mixed up dose of bravado and croon into a half case of tunes that employ every sound and style the enclave has probably ever heard. On girders is The Panda Band’s oddly layered flow: a shift in tempo, balance, and instrument choice characteristic to indie rock in aural definition and not much else. Appearing as a ‘different’ band isn't always necessarily about being as generally musical as The Panda Band is, which is a trinket that gives the disc its charms. Sure, similarities can be drawn to Super Furry Animals, Man Man, Modest Mouse and Scrappy Hamilton, but use lead and be ready to erase, the moment you hear something familiar The Pandas change course and head for the hills.
The track to track flittering of the record’s playfulness and 'Are you buying this?' lyrical campaign creates a balance that seems impossible vis a vis the fact that these are almost all three minute (or so) songs. There is no salve or explanatory gimmick, these guys just rock in their own way. Singer Damian Crosbie's waggish delivery is never over or underperformed, matching the lazer-laden vaudevillian rock tunes blow for blow. His effort on the Theremin honky-tonk of "Ghosts Have The Best Time” highlights a deft ability to drop in and out of the band’s stylistic gear shifts, while he adds a winsome breath to "Lovely Shoulders," their Dylan meets Yoshimi fluff up of love in bloom.
In all, This Vital Chapter is a rewarding listen from tick to tick. Not the least bit skimpy on inventive songcraft and advertant one-upsmanship of the many weird-for-no-reason bands splashing around the pool right now, this record should surprise many despite its already heavy Aussie airplay.
