Heave Media

Panda Riot's 'Far & Near' seems far from impressive & a near disaster

Panda Riot falls short on 'Far & Near.'

Panda Riot

Far & Near EP

Released on May 11, 2010

It doesn’t take much for me to really fall in love with new music.  My three-part recipe for successful new music appreciation is solid vocals, moving lyrics, and talented musicianship.  Unfortunately, this seems to be a tall order to fill.  With their new album, Far & Near, Chicago’s Panda Riot fulfills one third of what seems to be necessary for a successful album.

 

Far & Near opens with what seems to be a hopeful track instrumentally, but sinks quickly with Rebecca Scott’s sub par delivery.  “Julie (In Time)” sounds a little too unpolished and poorly produced to pull off within this genre of music.  The muti-vocal tracks utilized to give this song its “other-worldly” feel, often don’t match up leaving a very sloppy aftermath.

 

Track two of the EP, “Motown Glass” quickly resembles a tricked out Sound Of Music remix.  The childlike innocence of both Scott’s lyrics and melodies create quite the juvenile canvas on which this song is painted.  But with an overdriven beat and soft soprano melody, “Motown Glass” leaves me feeling emotionally lost to the message trying to be conveyed.  The chorus is brought in with some horribly off key vocal lines that even the musically ignorant could pick up on from across a room.  The train wreck dissonance created by the chorus literally makes me cringe to think about it and further depreciates the production value.  Maybe there is something really artsy about it that is way over my head. Apparently off key is the new in key and I must have missed the memo.

 

“Streetlights and You and Me” seems to be getting the most recognition from the Far & Near EP, yet to me it would seem much more appropriate on the next Kidz Bop album.  It has all the components of a choir of young children singing pop driven songs that are slightly off pitch. A chorus of high-pitched voices: check.  Thin treble overdriven guitar: check. Drum machine: check.  The only difference between Far & Near and a Kidz Bop album is that it’s still somewhat endearing when it’s 7-10 year olds doing the vocals.  Honestly this song is quite possibly the worst song I’ve ever heard.

 

The only saving grace whatsoever for this EP are the last three tracks on the album.  “When You Said, When I Said” features Rebecca Scott using her vocals more as an instrumental accessory opposed to the driving force of the song.  They are tucked ever so slightly behind the intricate instrumental weave created by ringing guitars and a power driven beats. “Parallax View” is without a doubt the best track on the whole album.  It’s an amazingly well crafted instrumental track, which closely follows in the footsteps of great orchestral bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and The Dead Texan.

 

The concluding track of Far & Near is “16 seconds” - the only track on this EP that works together as a whole.  “16 seconds” feels a lot like a Broken Social Scene song.  With deep orchestral swells that meld into driven gritty guitar lines, this is the only well crafted song featured on Far & Near.  The vocal lines are also slightly tucked in the background as on “When You Said, When I Said” which makes it all the more tolerable to my ears.

 

Altogether, Far & Near falls short of the goal.  What seems to be great within the concept of the EP, and even the band, gets lost by way of poor execution.  Too much of the album is poorly produced, terribly written, and incredibly predictable.  However, the last half of Far & Near is much more tolerable due a bit of production magic and a well-crafted instrumental track.  But at the end of it all, Far & Near seems to be an album which is easily forgettable.

Posted by Shelby Pollard on May 13, 2010 @ 9:00 am