Back with their second album, Pynch return
When they first appeared on the Speedy Wunderground label with Disco Lights, Pynch have slowly built a loyal following based upon their clever rhythms and technical prowess with an ear for a hook with vital vocal delivery. Their first album 'Howling at a Concrete Moon' was an amalgamation of their singles with some filler but nevertheless a great listen about the disenchantment and allure of city life.
Today, they release their sophomore album Beautiful Noise. For some bands, this is always referred to as the difficult second album. But Pynch are not like some bands, they are a special four piece and have been since they released the slacker/covid-19 anthem 'Somebody Else' a track written before the global pandemic but whose tale of alienation and loneliness meant more within the troubled times.
The new album begins with 'Forever' and it is a reminder that Pynch unlike a lot of their contemporaries are well aware of the strength of the intro to a track - an enticing conduit for fans to get excited before Spencer Enock's distinct vocals come through.
Throughout the album, there is that spirit of DIY and shoegaze, a feeling that they are going to make music that they like without the hope that it connects but the belief that it will. There are winks to current music trends in 'Post-Punk/New-Wave' with the band themselves refusing to be pigeon-holed coupled with the single 'The Supermarket' with its driving bassline.
Upon further listenings, this album is a joy, for fans of early New Order whose post-Curtis' death were works of disillusionment along with the late 80s Depeche Mode. Think of 'Microwave Rhapsody', a song about sitting around and daydreaming; their unique knack of making universal the kitchen sink dramas they illustrate bodes well when they see the larger world available through touring.
They have already travelled to wider parts of Europe and the East coast of America; their guitar/electro sound sitting nice with the recent nostalgia binge of the Strokes/Yeah Yeah Yeah's period.
Title track and the longest one on the album, is perhaps their most, angry song, the lyric is about wanting to stay in bed and ignore the beautiful noise he sings about. And yet despite the heaviest sounding song, Spencer's forlorn earnest vocal remains engaging and it even detours into a jazzy sound ending which is rich and different in their scope.
Even the penultimate track 'Come Outside' which showcases Spencer singing with drummer Julianna Hopkins, shows another avenue of invention possible to the band in future outings.
This is not so much a band with a foot in the door ready to eat at the top table, they are ready to kick that door down fully and announce themselves.
Self-released and self-produced on their Chillburn Recordings label, Beautiful Noise is out now on all formats.
