Panic is quite unlike anything I’ve recently encountered, and I expect that will remain true for some time to come. Mary Broadcast’s half dozen tracks for her new EP broach subjects seldom within the purview of pop songs; exploring the trauma of a miscarriage and its aftereffects sounds like something for a novel, short story, or movie instead of a modern pop rock song cycle.
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/marybroadcast
Concept releases are among the most legendary in music history, e.g. Pink Floyd’s The Wall and The Who’s Tommy, but they likewise boast a mixed reputation. It’s often associated with pretentiousness and/self-indulgence. You won’t find any of that here, however, as Broadcast’s lyrics for songs such as the title cut are conversational with compelling flashes of imagery. The “narrative”, even when taking the video episodes filmed for each song, is not linear but rather interior.
She frames that interiority in several ways, but the songwriting’s first person point of view is key. It achieves extraordinary power at different points. The marriage of that point of view in the title song, coupled with its complementary visuals, is particularly powerful. Broadcast and her band mates composed a first rate arrangement for this track emphasizing economy of movement – there’s no wasted motion. It helps focus listener’s attention on her lyric and the video’s imagery.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNE4I9ybhmk
“Zone 4” deepens the EP’s sound. It shares similarities with the opener, Broadcast and the band pull off one fantastic chorus after another, but the song moves away from the starker approach of its predecessor. The mix of voices in the song, Broadcast’s working with backing singers Barbara Schutting and Mario Mrazek, adds a further dramatic edge. “Bastille” provides us with one of the most rousing moments during the release and it bubbles over with immense gratitude. It’s not a rose-colored glasses view of love and that, along with its musical strengths, sets this song apart.
“Bazar” is a melodic and sonic document of longing. As a man, I cannot relate to the experience of losing a child to miscarriage, but I can however connect with the need for transformation. Much of this EP concerns itself with that theme, among others. Broadcast chose two superb actors to convey the story through film, Clara Diem and Klemens Dellacher, and both deliver superlative performances here. The polish applied to each of the six episodes amply shows the conception, outlining, and look of each are far from afterthoughts. The obvious heart of the project is the music, but the videos are critically important.
Panic
Listen to Panic on Spotify. Mary Broadcast · Single · 2022 · 6 songs.
Broadcast closes with “Aver”, an emotional powerhouse where her protagonist faces the central loss of this work. She’s accomplished crafting a genuine cry from the heart that never lapses into heavy-handedness and the band likewise embellishes her contributions with one of its best performances. The film for this song concludes the story with potent imagery and final commanding performances from Dellacher and Diem. Panic is a work that speaks to the heart, with little adornment; few releases reach for such lofty effects and achieve them with such style.
Clay Burton