I am beginning to run out of words to describe the bands that are currently making a storm of the current Manchester music scene. Terms like workhorses, boundary-pushing and genre-defying apply to artists across the city from Martial Arts to TTSSFU. Pyncher, though, exemplify all of those characteristics and, as a unit, are one of the stand-out acts of this most recent crop.
I Really Mean It This Time is the follow-up EP to Pyncher’s first release Every Town Needs A Stranger. That release was praised for its ability to traverse the band’s widespread artistic influences and produce a corresponding batch of songs that were as intelligent as they were catchy. I Really Mean It This Time very much continues that sense of innovation.
Opening track One Day harnesses a transistor radio fuzz without the usually corresponding punkiness and replaces it with the band’s innate pop sensibilities, kept steady with Jack Rainbow’s reliable work on the drums. Lead singer Sam Blakeley contradicts my opening observation with a John Lydon-esque snarl halfway through the track. It’s an energetic opener that sets an unpredictable yet tantalising tone for the other three tracks.
Louisa draws influence from Anglo-rock/pop greats Blur and The Beatles that flirts with psychedelia but is seduced by Britpop noise. It’s another familiar yearning track from Sam who proves he’s at his most inspired when he’s looking inwards. It’s a tune that bobs along very nicely indeed.
On Oh Boy, a track championed by Radio 6, bassist Britt takes centre stage with an attention-grabbing stomping bassline that long-time Pyncher gig-goers will have come to expect. The tune recalls Yard Act with the centrality of the bass sound and the ability of the band to co-opt their whimsicality into their art, alongside a vocal tone that recalls The Strokes. With this, the track reflects an earnestness that the band have always had with an equal dedication to work and play.
Final track Home has Sam once again looking wistfully inwards for inspiration. On his writing process, here’s what he has to say:
I write a lot about feeling alone and being different to everyone else. I think that is my way of getting it all out there. I like to write about where I’m from– Steyning, West Sussex. It’s a funny place and some of the characters in my songs live there. It’s a fun place to be an observer, as it’s quite isolated from the real world
That personal element is what makes the band so special; each member puts their own stamp on the project and, when those influences are put through the wringer that is the creative process, what emerges are real earworms. The pop instincts are natural and so will be the plaudits
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