Manchester loudmouths Pyncher are back with their tongues pressed firmly to their cheeks.
Although they are recent young additions to the booming Northern Quarter scene, the word Pyncher means something to those familiar with music in Manchester at the minute. The quartet fuse post-punk with doom metal influences, resulting in what sounds like a sarcastic student improvising a Black Sabbath song. But, in a good way.
Opening with Harvey O'Toole and Britt Dewhurst's homophonic partnership and shoving the main riff into our grateful faces, the band kick into the track with a demonic chuckle. It's medium-paced, but the drums drive the track along with the bass and guitars so it doesn't lose energy. As the vocals come in, we realised the song's presented as fun, winking at us from the stage, rather than it being either a love-letter or in-depth critique of the makers of Reelin' In The Years.
With the pre-chorus, the guitars change to a silky, reverberated sound reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins. It's very tasty, and a bit of a welcome harmonic change before the riff barges back through the door.
The vocals are drenched in irony, the delivery conjuring the perfect image of Blakely rolling his eyes into the crowd in a sort of Albarn-esque way. The flow can get slightly tiresome but does fit well with the rest of the track - which really is the selling point of the band's studio outputs. At no point do they try to overcomplicate things. They're a tight collective and they understand the genre's USP as raw, stripped-back and punchy.
The production is just raw enough to capture those same attributes that we think show Pyncher at their best. There's always a struggle in the studio for bands who rely on powerful live performances, particularly in smaller local scenes, to bestow that fire unto the studio recordings. It's minimalist, as the track deserves, with some additional guitar dives in the left of the soundscape that gel well with Blakely's moanings. Could be a good name for a band, that. Blakely's Moanings.
The only trouble with Blakely's Moanings, however fun on the surface, is that we lose some of the narrative of the song. After a few listens, we're still not engaged with the actual structure of the track. Of course, when experiencing it at a show, this wouldn't be a problem. Sat with headphones trying to decipher what the hell is going on, however, is slightly less fun. Would a clearer vocal style detract from some of the charm of the group? Perhaps. We'd also never have thought of that cool band name.
Overall, it's entertaining, refreshing and is definitely a worthy addition to their growing back catalogue. It's clear that Pyncher are on a trajectory that might see them burst onto the mainstream a la Micah Richards, and they appear to be straddling the ride with gleeful smiles.
We caught up with the band to talk about the UK grassroots scene and their plans for the coming year. Coming exclusively to the Bad Taste Blog on 5/12/22.
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Pyncher's Socials:
IG: instagram.com/pyncher
Twitter: twitter.com/pyncher
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/66NBYDmR4OTIL8AuMvKTK7?si=BginkFV7RD2n2g42HmazZw
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