1st December 2023
Christopher Nosnibor
New York’s Panik Flower, purveyors of shoegaze / super washed-out guitar indie rock released their debut single ‘Pretty Face’ in September 2022, and promise ‘dream pop with an understated heaviness. The result is a unique soundscape of soft harmonies, hard-hitting instrumentals and cutting lyricism that evokes the hazy nostalgia of distant memories – ones of love, loss and identity.’
Watching the video to single cut ‘Playground’, which features four of the bandmembers – presumably because it was shot before the current lineup coalesced – pulls a chord of sadness in my chest. It depicts an afternoon spent at a fair, emanating youthful carefree fun, the likes of which is never appreciated at the time, but only ever in hindsight. However aware of the finite nature of youth, there’s a period where it feels that your life lies ahead of you, and every day is a new day. And then, suddenly, it isn’t, and you’re clawing through life a day at a time, strangled by the suffocating sensation that every day that passes is a day lost.
As a jaded, downbeat, saddened old bastard facing decline, I can’t help but be envious of Panik Flower. My youth doesn’t seem so far away until I realize that the bands they remind me of, and the bands from who they draw influence, date from the 90s. The 90s feels like maybe a decade ago: the idea that 1993 was 30 years is both depressing and terrifying. But Dark Blue brings a flighty balance of joy and melancholy.
And so it is that ‘Charades’ brings wistful indie vibes and some bold wells of guitar which grow and grow into crashing waves by the song’s finale. The title track is a solid FX-heavy indie tune with evocative vocals which bear a folksy edge reminiscent of All About Eve’s Julianne Reagan.
The aforementioned ‘Playground’ brings a heavy melancholy and an ache to the chest with its chiming guitars and panging vocal melody, as well as a sturdy chorus. Things get both poppier and also heavier in the choppy, chuggy final track ‘Dilute Me’, which brings big guitars and Garbage vibes and attitude to wrap up a solid EP that packs great songs back to back.
AA
Aural Aggravation 