Pyncher Are Back – And the New Single is a Proud Declaration of Intents

Only a couple of years back, Manchester's Pyncher got a lot of well-deserved buzz. 

The four-piece, standing out immediately in the landscape of emerging bands with their direct, earnest DIY rock laced with experimental flourishes, was enjoying the most satisfying kind of trajectory. 

Starting from small venues and local gigs the band got on the word-of-mouth circuit, making growing numbers of people excited for what was to come next. The handful of singles released on the momentum of this early-days excitement made for abundant proof that the hype was justified: there was an evident growth in the sound from one song to the other, but also an increase in boldness in the composition which suggested that Pyncher’s flirtations with left-field ideas were likely to blossom into something truly noteworthy. 

Sadly, at least in the short term, it was not to be; a setback with distribution forced the band into a hiatus and a new start not of their choice. You’d be wrong, though, to think the false start would leave this band intimidated or defeated. Instead, Pyncher is now back with a ‘quasi-debut’ of sorts – not their first single technically, but the first in this new skin, so to speak. And it only takes one listen to realise that they have taken to heart the wisdom of approaching apparent obstacles as if they were opportunities.

‘Get Along’ is everything you could have come to expect if you’ve witnessed Pyncher in their early days. It’s snappy, loud, and has something of old-school mod-rock to it without sounding derivative. It’s got a hint of garage rock bite, especially in the treatment of the bass lines, ever-present and energising but never intrusive. There is plenty of feeling in Sam Blakeley’s vocals that gives the track, in places, a punk-rock-adjacent vibe which works well for a band like this, one that sounds eminently classic but is at the same time surprisingly hard to classify in terms of genre. 

Overall the track feels engaging and straightforward, betraying its acoustic origins. There is an efficient simplicity in the guitar line most of all, probably because it was written without distortions or production flourishes in mind. But it still manages to pack a remarkable amount of different things in the mere three minutes and a half (barely) of its runtime. That love of oddity and experimentation which had bobbed up to the surface here and there in the band’s previous production has come back with a vengeance here, materialising in an unexpectedly syncopated tempo and the incorporation of some unusual sounds, especially in the central portion of the track. 

There are many nods to the classics – something of The Who in the overall structure of the song and something of Mick Ronson’s solo work in the way the guitars squeal. There is also a quirky middle beat that almost feels like a homage to Gorillaz, but the overall package feels cohesive and unrestrained, as if Pyncher have grown even more confident in their voice and can’t wait to share it with the world.

It is, also, the kind of energetic music which simply begs to be played live, perfectly fitting for a band that has started first and foremost in the world of grassroots gigging and, as inventive as they might get in the studio, would not fully make sense without direct interaction with the crowd. Some songs will make you smell the sweat of the mosh pit, and crave it even from the comfort of your home: this is one of them.

Chiara Strazzulla

@cstrazzull

Image: Catherine Jablonski

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