Panoply Academy Corps of Engineers
Concentus
Secretly Canadian
The first two albums, while exciting and intriguing, were necessary attempts at crafting highly intelligent mad scientist punk rock that fell short in all the ways that this album excels. All unnecessary weirdness has been ignored in an approach that is as Spartan with its choice of instruments as it is flamboyant with its use of those instruments. The approach might make no sense. To those who loved this kind of music for its raw energy but eventually became tired of the obvious chord changes will find themselves reunited with their love of guitars and shrieking. PACE is actually Panoply Academy Glee Club after the departure of half the original members. No more organ. No more bass played as if it was meant to be destroyed. No more sound collages between songs. And no more cheering. What remains will initially appear to be polite chaos. Repeat visits to this album’s triad of trilogies will illuminate a mind that has combined the compositional complexity of classical music with the aggression of punk.
Secretly Canadian Records, 1703 N. Maple St., Bloomington, IN 47404; http://www.secretlycanadian.com
