On their first EP, the New York City outfit Puzzled Panther doesn’t leave any confusion about their sound. The group continues on its journey with engaging lyricism and a clean sound.
With an almost Nirvana-like introduction, the band enters pretty tamely on their opener, “Legs Long.” The drums and rhythm guitar carry the track, while the lead guitar makes minor appearances around the chorus now and then. Lead vocalist Victoria Ezpinoza easily carries the track with her dynamic low-range vocals.
It’s easy to get lost in some of this outfit’s star power, like drummer Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and guitarist Eugene Hütz from Gogol Bordello, but Ezpinoza is easily the group’s highlight. In the middle of the record, her vocals come alive.
On “What’s It Gonna Be?” a ska-flavored guitar melody with syncopated drums takes over the instrumental. Ezpinoza plays with the tune like an expert. Little vocal fills help add flavor to a pretty simple track while exploring a bit of her upper range in the back end of the chorus.
Right after that, Ezpinoza’s pronunciation and syncopated singing style take center stage in “Unknown Ways.” Here, the instrumental helps with a flanger rhythm guitar perfectly paired with a wailing lead guitar that doesn’t spin too out of control.
However, the best song on the record has to be “Smoke and the Mirrors We Broke.” With a funky bass line and super rhythmic guitar riffs, this song has a crime show vibe, and the detectives are slowly figuring out the case. Ezpinoza does her part to add to this vibe with those low vocals.
The lyricism itself sounds like a crime scene description, going from image to image with detailed precision.
“We know the vision is deeper than eyes in our head / Dust dirty windows, still caught in the web / Some of them god / Some of them ghost-like / For them it’s not what it is / But what it looks like.”
Puzzled Panther fleshed out their sound and lyrics to make a perfectly solved piece. They’ve got a lot to build with and could use these skills to crack other puzzles in the future.
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