THE PANICS - CRUEL GAURDS
I like to organise things in my brain. I stereotype, categorise and group random and not so random things together as a means of mental filing. It makes it easier for me to love, hate and judge people this way. The Panics is one of those bands that were categorised because their name sounded like another band so I assumed they were alike. I still don’t really know if I’m justified in making this assumption but my brain mixes The Panics up with The Shins.
I like The Shins. They remind me of Zach Braff and Zach Braff is funny and hot (please note: this is hot according to me. For some bewildering reason my idea of hot is not widely accepted) and he appears in decent stuff like Scrubs and Garden State. That movie he did with Rachel Bilson though was supremely shithouse and did lower his stocks for a while but he’s bounced back. The Shins are whimsical and their harmonies are killer. The Panics are not the Shins. But that is not a bad thing.
I recall buying this album on the strength of one song ‘Get us home’ and since its the first song on the CD there’s a fair chance I never got past track one for a while. Once I get stuck on a song - that’s it. The Panics too have their Shin-like whimsical harmonies, stripped back percussion and orchestral layering but its the horns and their sound that transcends seasons that make this album. Another element to my mental stereotyping is my habit of assigning a season to bands and specific albums and while The Panic start off in autumn/winter, they could easily slip into dusky summer or even spring. I blame radio for this confusion. There’s been a few times in the car or at a friends when I’ve heard Cruel Gaurds out of season and felt ok with it. The only other thing I can say about this record is that while the singers voice is distinctive and gravelly by the time track 10 rolls around I’m irritated by it. I didn’t realise this until the ‘no skipping’ rule of this blog was applied.
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