Panic Srikes A Chord

A Bloomington man by the name of Jeremy Brightbill fronts the surprisingly versatile and able one-man band Panic Strikes a Chord. \nBrightbill, alongside co-producers Jacob Belser and Daniel Susa, has produced an interesting and capable work with I Can See Electricity at the Proper Distance. The 11-track album is good, if not a tad bit pretentious. Brightbill claims on the disc's cover that his music is "experimental and poetic terrorism." It is surprising that such a talented, burgeoning young musician outright states this. One would be well advised to leave the ostentatious meanderings at the door and to simply play your music.\nPanic Strikes a Chord has a sound reminiscent of Beck's pre-Mellow Gold works and his more recent work Mutations. Brightbill's delivery, cadence and voice are similar to Beck's. The two men also share a similar style in which folk elements are fused with moderate hip-hop beats. \nMany of Electricity's tracks are arresting and thoroughly satisfying. Registering particularly well are "Not the Regular Glass," "Doomed to Repeat, I Say Doomed!!," "Bob's Attempt at a Television Commercial," "The Truth about Faerie Tales," and "Rappaport Vs. the Jet (that Bombed the Grocery Store)." Each of these tunes is mellow and catchy but simultaneously reveal much irony, humor and themes of desolation.\nThe only tracks that really deter from the overall enjoyment of the album are "Favorite Plea" and "Watching Smoke Dance." These songs are simply irritating and stick out like sore thumbs among the more competent tunes on the disc.\nPanic Strikes a Chord has constructed an album that puts many others to shame. Electricity is intelligent, mildly funny and astute musically. Through personal and musical growth and an increasing number of listeners, there's no limit to what Panic Strikes a Chord might eventually achieve.