Llevo meses escuchando el cuarto disco de los australianos The Panics. Hoy, apenas tengo tiempo de buscar e informarme sobre música como en otros momentos. Así que no sé si me estoy perdiendo cosas estupendas. Seguro que sí. Por mi parte, puedo decir que "Cruel Guards" el cuarto álbum (sin contar los tres ep´s anteriores, a partir del 2002) del grupo liderado por Jae Laffer es lo que más profundamente me ha gustado de lo que he podido escuchar este año (aunque el disco se editó a finales del 2007). 
Einstein decía: "No reveles nunca tus fuentes de información". Le haré caso, aunque una pista puedo dar: lo descubrí en un programa de radio de los pocos que se salvan de la quema. Fácil, ¿no?
Y, como ténía por costumbre un "track by track" por mi cumpleaños y resulta que no tengo mucho tiempo, cedo la palabra al mismísimo Jae Laffer que ha tenido a bien facilitar la labor a un servidor. Y así de paso practicamos el inglés del kangaroo:
THE PANICS
‘CRUEL GUARDS’ – TRACK BY TRACK by Jae Laffer
1. GET US HOME
We wanted to record a song to open the record which was sweeping and epic. The Ennio Morricone vibe that comes with this was deliberate - I think the song sounds like a bunch of us riding over a hill into a dusty town. I peppered the lyrics with vague references to landscapes. It has a real sense of mystery and drama to it.
2. RUINS
This is a break up song, but it’s full of imagery and the honest lyric ‘You know I’m not the one that you’re looking for.’ It has a certain resignation to it – a sense that the character in the song knows the relationship is coming to an end. The strings came from Myles sampling different orchestras and this song has a real classic sound to it. Hopefully it doesn’t come across as being pretentious. I loved those Britpop anthems like The Verve ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ where the strings drove the song, rather than just being thrown on at the end.
3. CREAKS
I created a little scene with this song. It’s about leaving someone while they’re sleeping. The creaks mentioned in the lyrics are the little creaks in the floorboards that I have to avoid to leave without making a noise and waking her up. It’s a pumped up song though – we’ve never been afraid of big choruses. My dad was always playing Manfred Mann records when I grew up, which inspires me when writing songs.
4. DON’T FIGHT IT
This is a big song with a big chorus. I wanted this to be a simple bittersweet pop song. The organs sound like gospel organs, and it’s really uplifting. It’s got a catchy chorus and it’s got old style verses where I just rap along. I like to think that people can listen to this and understand the lyrics without having to interpret the lyrics.
5. FEELING IS GONE
This is the simplest song I’ve ever written - it’s a three chord wonder. It’s nice to break the record up with a really basic song like Feeling Is Gone. Again, it’s another bittersweet track. I like writing about the dark things – whether it’s something that comes from the dark corners of the mind late at night or something bad from your past that comes back to haunt you.
6. CRUEL GUARDS
This is the darkest song on the record. It’s haunting and it’s a whole bunch of imagery about society. I was having panic attacks for a while, which I was eventually medicated for. I wanted to write a song that reflected the really bad moments in the day when everything seemed really bad. It’s weird because whenever we play live, this becomes a singalong.
7. LIVE WITHOUT
This song has so many words in it. It was stuff that was floating around my mind at the time I was writing it. It’s a thumping song based on relationships. I know that’s a cliché, but that’s what pop music is all about. I created a bit of a backdrop to the song by spitting out line after line that didn’t necessarily connect, but they work on their own. The lyrical rhythm has a real hip hop feel.
8. SOMETHING IN THE GARDEN
It has a sample from an Aboriginal choir in it, which sounds great. We recorded an instrumental of this and it comes across like a spaghetti western with these big guitar solos over the top. Lyrically, it had a real storytelling vibe. I was listening to a lot of Nick Cave at the time and it was inspired by the ghosts you create in your head when you’re on your own for a long time. I liked putting a few dark characters in the song too. It’s very oppressive and desperate sounding.
9. CONFESS
It’s got a bit of a Kate Bush feel to this because there’s lot of wood instruments underneath. It’s really simple but it’s been expanded with different instruments. It’s a very gung ho song.
10. SUNDOWNER
This was musical jam that expanded into something bigger. We wanted to write a song that closed the album in a dramatic fashion. I’d found out that the word Sundowner was an old term for the first drink of the evening after a long day at work. I really liked the imagery of that.
