Pan Arcadia | After the flood
Dillon
There’s something interesting about Pan Arcadia’s “After the Flood”, an NYC band with driving, riffy guitars and slow, nearly spoken word, deep-vocal delivery is going to evoke comparisons to seminal NYC bands like Parquet Courts et al, and not in a bad way. There’s a confident, strutting of melodic rhythm guitar that keeps pace and backing for the vocals throughout this track which I enjoyed quite a bit. Pan Arcadia pulls in this really out of left field percussion break that works to keep the track engaging, right as it could be veering into monotony. And I can very easily imagine drifting off in some dive bar in the Village over my 7th or so beer to the sounds of Eamon Rush’s soothing vocal stylings, back when that was a thing. “After the Flood” is pretty good as far as first impressions go. I will say there's a lot here borrowing from bands like Parquet Courts that honestly works for Pan Arcadia, but that’s not to say this band doesn’t have it’s own identity. So, let’s see where Pan Arcadia shows us of themselves next, I’m excited to hear it.
Andre
Big thumbs up to Pan Arcadia. I am usually one of those music recluses that only ever comes out of their remote cabin of comfort music when forced. I do want to be better and on the bleeding edge of new music, but I’ve been burned too many times. That being said Pan Arcadia’s “After the Flood '' is a reminder that being cynical and a music luddite is how you become old and lame. Then you become the dad-rock guy. Pan Arcadia isn’t perfect and not many acts ever are, but I believe that they are on a great path. I would describe them as a mix between early goth and 2000’s garage rock like Joy Division meets The Strokes. The vocals especially are Ian Curtisesque and the guitar riffs are melodic and tight. And the song has an ever so slight distortion that muddies the song in a good way. I think Pan Arcadia has a few things to iron out with their overall sound, but I absolutely think they are going into a good direction.
Greg
Pan Arcadia would fit in perfectly with the mid 2000s Bravery/Franz Ferdinand/Strokes-type era. The obvious influences, however, do not negate the originality of lead vocalist Eamon Rush’s unique bass. I’d have to agree with my fellow fam member Dillon–his voice IS soothing, even moreso in a crowded dive bar in east village. Lyrically, Rush is delivering some pretty heavy stuff but masking its doom and gloom by his silky crescendoes: Sacrificial lesson... Earth’s evanescence... Elysian neglection...deep stuff. Pan Arcadia sounds like a band on the verge of finding exactly who they want to be, and I am here for it.
Sean
Pan Arcadia’s “After the flood” is a song with good intentions that falls apart due to a disconnect. The clash between the lead vocals and the rest of the instruments made for a less successful tune. There is a tug of war happening between the baritone post punk influenced singing style and the classic rock song that makes up the rest of the track. I am a fan of this type of singing, and I think it has had a well deserved comeback in recent years. For it to work there needs to be harmony with the instrumental side. In this track I do not hear harmony and that causes friction.
Mary
Do you guys know the 80s band internationally known as Yazoo but nationally known as simply ‘Yaz’? Selena Gomez once did a subpar cover of their most famous song, ‘Only You’. But they also did ‘In My Room’ and ‘Nobody’s Diary’. Kinda like DEVO but Devo’s probably better. They were like my favorite band in 2018 when I was financially scraping by building a website for a fabric shop in midtown.