Austin-based avant-garde, femme pop, and electronic music project, Panjoma presents their new single “Like Thunder,” a soothing ballad about love and lucid dreaming, just in time to roll out the remainder of summer blissfully.
The song was initially created for Willie Oteri and Ricardo Acevedo’s ‘O’Clock’ Italian tour in 2018, but it really came together when songstress Mary Panjoma joined the crew: her lyrics and vocals tightened the composition into its final incarnation. The saxophone-centric number leads us from a sultry headspace to one of cosmic bliss, a trip-hoppy jaunt into oblivion.
Panjoma combines electronic sound elements with conventional instruments, which they often use in unconventional ways, such as filtered pianos or e-bows on bass, producing their unique sound using a vast array of drum machines, samplers, keyboards, software programs, and synthesizers. There are elements of Portishead, Tuxedomoon, and even a slice of Deee-lite in this 90s-style throwback. We also hear Bjork, Aphex Twin, and Orbital in their influences.
The self-directed video is a sultry exercise in surrealism, beautifully illustrating the track’s lush, lavish, and languid mood quite perfectly.
Watch below:
Formed in 2006, core members Mary Panjoma (vocals, keyboard, production) and Patrik Nilsson (bass, drum machines, samplers, production) quickly hit it off upon meeting, resulting in a marriage and the birth of Panjoma. Despite their subsequent divorce, Pat and Mary remain committed to their shared musical quest. Panjoma’s studio and live performance members (past and present) include Ricardo Acevedo (Lost Cat Magnet, O’Clock), Ritchard Napierkowski (The Nimbus, Ritchual, Adoration Destroyed), John Ousely (Construction Paper Records, Cosmic Pets), Richard Evans (Rivers Want) and Chris Alvarez (Saul Williams, John Spencer Blues Explosion).
For over 40 years, Ricardo Acevedo / Lost Cat Magnet has written and performed new wave, art electro, techno prog, urban ambient, avant-jazz, and Chillout groove music, ranging from the far-out sonic experimentation of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the ’60s to the machine-driven meditations of Klaus Schulze and the Berlin School in the ’70s, to the conceptualism and imagination of ’90s progressive electronic artists like The Orb. Willie Oteri has been a professional musician for over 40 years, touring the US, Europe, and Japan.
Panjoma’s cinematic sound lends itself well to film, art, and soundtracks, having scored the independent horror film Psympatico and being featured in the soundtracks for multiple documentaries, TV shows, and video games, including ‘American Drug War’ and ‘How Weed Won The West’ and the beta video game trailer for ‘Otherland.’
The ‘Sun and Moon’ EP’ is out now and is available across digital platforms, including Spotify, Beatport, Apple Music. and Bandcamp.
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