Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Songs from the Glass House has got plenty of mood.  The Panic Division deliver on a promise made on their first album by delivering songs steeped in synthesizers and ambient electronic pulse.  Because these songs are more or less made or broken by this aspect, the album has its ups and downs.  When they’re good it sounds as if the music was once slated for a summer of 1982 release, sharing a double bill with U2.  When the music is bad it sounds like it could fill in any montage sequence to a generic, “eighties teen daze” film.  Because I’m nostalgic I can affix this one loose end into the knotted heart of the better songs, regardless.

Stand out tracks are the back to back Your Satellite and Big Day.  They balance that heavy “eighties” synthing with strong modern rock melodies.  Another stand out track is The Day You Left that feels so authentically of the music scene it apes that it unfortunately will become one of those songs that will be labeled and known as a Mr. Mister song on all the file-sharing programs.  This fact is only exacerbated by the cover of Mr. Mister’s seminal(psh) Broken Wings.  Even more unfortunate is the fact that The Panic Division’s rendition of Broken Wings is almost identical to the original, albeit it being slightly upgraded in translation to the new century.  This just makes it another Mr. Mister song to the general public and not an excellently performed cover by The Panic Division.

It’s gonna take some time for this band to catch enough limelight to claim they bask in it.  Heralded with Songs from the Glass House is a sound that requires latent recognition of the redeemable qualities that certainly were present in the much maligned “eighties” rock scene.  But when a sound requires that kind of connection, it takes the listener to the source if that is where he truly wishes to go.  If the listener hears The Panic Division’s stuff and likes it, he/she is not going to go mine their other work, but rather get to the quick with unearthing of artists of the time period being saluted on Songs from the Glass House.  You might find yourself doing the same thing.

This album was made for newer audiences whom probably have no love for “eighties” rock anyhow.  It sucks that those great synth compositions are going to be brushed aside in lieu of those modern rock melodies if this stuff does catch on with the kids.  It sucks even more that the people that will appreciate the finer points are going to miss that other key point that this is the sign of a good, new band.  The Panic Division may be fated to enjoy the silence.  However, you should not.  Listen to album.  You just might find some worthy listens depending on who you are.