With a voice and lyrical bent wavering between Merle Haggard and the Only Ones' Peter Perrett, Jamie Panzer is a tense urban cowpunk wisecracking past the graveyard. Dry bones rattle here, in the guilt dance of a spurned lover ("Jilted Bones"), in the brittle wit of the cracked actors narrating all these songs. Panzer's sonic palette-rough-but-ready acoustic, pedal steel, country-rock drums, harmonica, and startlingly explosive Tele picking-suggests a Bakersfield address, but the power-pop touches throughout, particularly on the Graham Parkeresque "King of Doubt," betray a familiarity with worlds beyond the honky-tonk. Irony, heartbreak, ZZ Top-they're all here, giving voice to the bad tastes and canker sores that life and love periodically leave in our mouths. Panzer, whether bitterly compassionate or compassionately bitter, knows it's a ridiculous world but that somebody's got to suffer in it, and his is the soundtrack for too many lives for us to doubt that he's close to the truth.
Andrew Hultkrans
“Suicide is only a punch line away.” That’s a line that could’ve come from Leonard Cohen, but it comes from Brooklyn, NY, singer/songwriter Jamie Panzer on his darkly funny, country-tinged, self-titled album.
Panzer is more songwriter than singer, his voice (as his lyrics) bringing to mind Cohen, but in a slightly higher range. But if his voice and lyrics call on the spirit of that Canadian poet/musician, the music calls up the electric country of Bob Dylan at times, dobro and pedal steel featured on almost every track.
There is a rootsy Americana vibe throughout the album, but not the positive, feel-good sort that one associates with the term, and the reason is Panzer’s bitter humor. “When I gaze up at the stars, I see stars / … / when I die, I think I’ll end up dead and gone, but still life must go on / … / I am the king of doubt…or am I?” Nearly every song comes up with a line that will force you to rewind and listen again, shaking your head and chuckling at the cleverness.
Panzer’s songwriting feels effortless, but with his inventive turns of phrase (and occasional burst of creativity melodically), one suspects it is anything but. “Mondawmin Skyline” shows that his limited vocal range can’t keep the quality of a good ballad down, a gorgeous harmony sung by a Panzer seemingly pained by
the highest notes and the sweeping pedal steel making the track a true standout on an album with several strong offerings.
It isn’t just his lyrics that merit attention for creativity. “The Minions” opens without percussion, Panzer’s vocals sung in octaves, then adding harmonies, over a simple, modal melody, as if an old folk song. “Answer me brothers / tell me now sisters / who will Fate smile on today?” Panzer asks in this nearly hopeless song of struggle.
One doesn’t expect Panzer to be the next big thing, but, in addition to the aforementioned, songs like “This World is Ridiculous,” and “Against the Wall,” show that his songwriting ability is strong enough that he should find himself a devoted audience for as long as he records music.
Luther Hermanson for 30music.com
