5 out of 5

Label: Secretly Canadian

Producer: LonPaul Ellrich (Mastering, Mixing)

Motherfucking serendipity.  I was into Modest Mouse, and I read a review for Panoply Academy that did a “you’ll like this” comparison in a way that didn’t ruffle my indie-asshole feathers, and thus I a’scrambled down to Asshole Town (‘The Loop’ in St. Louis, MO) and went to the local Asshole Record Shoppe (Vintage Vinyl) and browsed the section with the hand-written ‘P’ placard until I plucked Panoply’s ‘Concentus’ from the racks for purchase.  I… believe this was my first Secretly Canadian purchase.  Which would become my gateway drug to label collection, SC the first.

The irony is that Panoply is the rarity from the Canadian roster, and furthermore, ‘Concentus’ is probably the club’s best album – tightest compositions, best recording, most focused song list.  Jerks.

Darin Glenn’s undulating, high-pitched vocals might seem like a shtick at first, but as you piece through the lyrics – which are an always interesting mish-mash of randomness and snide, with a dash of sing-along tossed in to keep the whole affair poppy – you realize this is a legitimate project, and Glenn’s bringing his all to the table for the sake of the music and not just to make funny sounds.  And where other Panoply discs have some filler tracks, or wandering passages, even when something like ‘Nar Nar Nar’ pauses in the middle for a silly vocal breakdown, it works to the album’s benefit, providing a necessary pause in the Les Savy Fav-ish guitar style and frequent beat changes.  Ellrich’s mixing also gives ‘Concentus’ an incredibly fresh and accessible sound: our main band elements are forefront and rich, but there’s generally some backing keys or something going on, just light enough to support the song.

As far as those comparisons to Modest Mouse – yes, there’s a light K-records dash to the whole thing, some Mousey herky-jerk in the guitar, some Doug Marsch-ing in the vocals, but Panoply is not a sound-alike.  And on ‘Concentus’, they’re more assured than they’d been before, and more focused than they’d be after, evolving their constant change-up MO into a head-banging rhythm from disc’s start to finish.