Panchicko’s Failed at Math(S)
Panchicko is an indie rock band from the United Kingdom that was founded back between 1997 and 1998 but didn’t release their first music till 2000. Their first demo, “D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L”, was found in a record shop and was shared widely online. For the next twenty years, the mystery of this EP and its creators’ would stay hidden. Until sometime in 2020, when Owain Davies, the lead guitarist and vocalist, was contacted by a fan. From that point the band has been rereleasing their old works and releasing new music: “Ferric Oxide (Demos)” and their latest work, “Failed at Math(s). This is their debut album with eight full tracks.
Failed at Math(s)
The opening track sets the feeling for not only the album but the whole of the band. It has their unique indie sound, with a mix of classic rock and a synthwave, which is complemented by the vocalist's smooth singing. The opening verse writes, “Face up to the wall right now. And we know what's wrong. Can't recall your face somehow. That got lost too long”. It’s through the perspective of a person who’s thinking back on a relationship, most likely in a more negative way. They can't even remember their past partner’s face, which was lost long ago. The chorus even shows us more with the line, “So thanks all those memories. Aching in my soul”. Again, the person seems to have some resentment towards their past.
Until I know
This track follows a similar pattern to the last but ditches the synthwave parts in favor of a soft rock sound, more drums, and calm riffs. This loosely follows the last, yet focuses on the fear of that relationship, more specifically, the fear of rebuilding that relationship. The opening lyrics show this, “And I don't know if you're coming back. I wouldn't be there, said I would've waited now. Got a fear of a recompense… How did it come back to this?” From this, we can see that whatever the relationship was like, it ended badly. Them having a fear of recompense (when something is given to repay for a loss) makes the idea that their partner was somewhat vacant and inactive in their relationship, to the point that they think if they were to get back together, it would only be a gift and not something true.
Gwen Everest
This song is the most important in the whole album as it is the connecting piece to the story. As the title is the name of the partner, we’ve heard about it in the past two songs. However, unlike the past songs this seems to be more like a confession or even message to them. Starting off with an most apologetic statement, “True love aspires for moments like these. Moments you don't need. True faith controls, but you don't want it to. That's not what we do”. This is the most significant part of the whole story. With the past songs being about the person’s memories and fears of this relationship, they’ve now come to a realization. “If you buy their smile. To run the last mile. All in vain to mute your pain. You said, ‘Don't do this for me again.’" It’s the person telling their old partner that getting back together wouldn’t help them, that it would just satisfy that need to fill that void. “False hopes conspire to shatter your illusions. But what's the use in them? False highs lead on, but nothing's going on…”. Yet again, it's that statement that if they were to get back together, it wouldn’t be real. Even referring to it as illusions and false highs. No matter what happens, it’s not going to help either of them. It would only help the pain temporarily and only benefit the person’s partner—a selfish kind of love.
