The bio for Panda Park reads “Songs are better out in the world than on hard drives.” This should be a rallying cry for artists everywhere. While not always easy to feel that your creation is complete, there’s something liberating and satisfying about actually letting people hear your hard work and interpret it on their own.
There’s no insight available as to what Panda Park was contemplating when the duo put together this EP of songs but there’s clearly something dark permeating what they do. Lead track “Down Down” has a Portishead-esque march to it, while “Vignette” has the kind of sweet sneer you might find in a Metric song. Comparisons to previous works from other bands may be a cheap technique for framing these original works but the touchstones aren’t inaccurate.
On the whole, the EP is a strong offering of interesting instrumentation, loops, sinister guitar and a lead vocal with attitude that feels sincere in its menace. The band’s Instagram only has five posts at the time of this publishing and I can only hope that means there’s much more to come from the outfit. Let’s hope they continue to get more songs off their hard drives and into the world.