PANEM: Zeitgeist / Absolute Monopoly (POP,Rock): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Panem is a french formation of four musicians led by the guitarist Yacine Aït Amer. If the year 2020 will have been special on many levels, for Panem it will be especially that of the blossoming with a first EP entitled "Zeitgeist/Absolute Monopoly" which makes it possible to discover the universe of this band.

Panem's music attracts attention from the very first listening through the charming catchy voice of Marie Morrow and the overall musicality of the tracks. "Zeitgeist/Absolute Monopoly" is one of those albums whose first experience gives the conviction that successive listenings will bring new satisfactions. Satisfactions in the diversity of rock that Panem provides, with an ease to go from luminous pop ('Zeitgeist/Absolute Monopoly') to soul ('Something I Don't Know') or more nervous rock ('Face Tomorrow' and 'The Empty Man').

Instrumentally, the collective masters its subject without overdoing it. Panem offers percussive riffs ('The Empty Man', Face Tomorrow') and jazzy ('Something I Don't Know') or metal guitar solos ('The Empty Man') with the same application as the delicate arpeggio of clear sounds, and brilliantly propose keyboard arrangements and the warmth of acoustic instruments. "Zeitgeist/Absolute Monopoly" is on the edge of progressive rock when Panem makes a guitar theme last for our pleasure at the end of 'Breath Prentender' or when it offers beautiful instrumental trimmings, like the atmospheric track of 'Zeitgeist/Absolute Monopoly' or the oriental tones of the joyful and heavy 'Face Tomorrow'.

Satisfaction finally in the part that is left to the emotion that comes out throughout the album. It is greatly propagated by the main vocals and the choirs that welcome the listener and help him/her through all kinds of ambiances, from the softest ('Zeitgeist/Absolute Monopoly') and warmest ('Something I Don't Know') to the most solemn ('A Line In The Sand' as a prayer with its repeated phrases).

The Panem project goes beyond its undeniable musical qualities. There is a serious research in the subjects addressed (the manipulation in 'Zeitgeist/Absolute Monopoly', the Sykes-Picot chords with major consequences in the Middle East in 'A Line In The Sand', or 'Face Tomorrow' which deals with the tensions and dramas in Palestine) and necessarily a conceptual connotation with certain chosen terms. One thinks, of course, of the name of the group, taken from the famous Latin satirical phrase panem et circenses (bread and circus games), and of the title of the EP which mentions the Zeitgeist, which can be translated as the spirit of an era and which structured many philosophical developments of the twentieth century.

This first EP by Panem is a real success on the conceptual level with a reflection on subjects and words, and on the musical level with the diversity of the compositions and the subtlety of the melodies. And to give life and sensibility to this music there are four musicians of great talent. With such an ability to vary his subject matter while maintaining his personality, Panem shows a potential that could take him far. - Official website

PANEM

ZEITGEIST / ABSOLUTE MONOPOLY

AUTOPRODUCTION

POP