Pyncher's Space Rocket Simulator is experimental, mildly unsettling, and a lot of fun

Words by Chiara Strazzulla

Photo by Oscar Cloud

If you’ve ever wondered what’s the hype around Pyncher, a good starting point for figuring it out is their latest single. The Manchester quartet have received a barrage of well-deserved accolades both for their studio releases and their live appearances – the latter of which have seen them share the stage with big names like English Teacher and Maruja. With a very busy calendar ahead of them for the Spring and Summer – highlights include a headline gig at YES in Manchester and an appearance at the Brighton Psych Festival – there is no better moment to get into Pyncher than the present, and newly announced single Space Rocket Simulator is the perfect gateway drug to do just that. Impressively for a track that, like other familiar favourites from the band’s live sets, is fairly self-contained in terms of length - it is barely over three minutes long - the track reads almost like a compendium of all the things that make Pyncher good; all the signature elements of their music are there. If you want to get a good sense of what this band is about, this song is a perfect way of finding it out.

Where the duration of the track may suggest it is simple, the structure that unfolds as it goes on is actually fairly complex. There are sharp changes of tempo, two rapid-paced mood swings that make the sound go from a 60s-style psych-pop vibe (there’s almost something of the Beach Boys in there!) to a distinctly grunge-punk dose of hefty noise, and an attention to the overall flow of the composition that makes it feel like a crescendo in spite of the relatively relaxed note it ends on. There is a streak of self-reflection in the lyrics that feels sincere and surprisingly stark (“I was digging my grave/looking for a door/all the buttons are flashing I feel like we’re crashing down”, the lyrics unfold as the music picks up pace, just before the most hectic and disruptive part of the song explodes), and which perhaps contributes to the subtly haunting feeling permeating the whole track; but there is also a playfulness throughout which is truly one of the trademark traits of this band, and which comes across most vividly in their stage presence. Pyncher are tackling some pretty difficult feelings through their music and they’re confronting them directly, but they are also doing so with a sense of humour, and they never fall into the trap of taking themselves too seriously; that’s what makes them such an engaging band when playing live and that’s what makes a track like this work so well when on paper you’d maybe think that it shouldn’t.

Like a lot of what Pyncher have produced thus far, this track also defies genre categorisations to an extent, which is only an added value. To call it garage rock would be entirely reductive, even though there is a strong DIY ethos to this band that is one of the things that make their music compelling; yet garage rock is where much of the guitar and most of all bass sound comes from, although it’s blended in with something older and more classic (dig far enough in search of the roots of this music and you will probably find The Who at some point). The slower sections have a vaguely hallucinatory mood to them that feels a lot like the psych rock of the 70s, but there is also a sprinkle of shoegaze sensitivities in there that is far more contemporary. Once again, such a blend should not work together, at least in theory, but it does - because it is clear that the band loves experimenting with it, and because the composition manages to strike a balance between its many different parts that doesn’t make it feel overcrowded.

The fun element is, ultimately, what makes this a really good listen. Without it, a song like Space Rocket Simulator would be at risk of being discounted as purely a style exercise; but because it is so clear that the band is having so much fun with it, and it is equally clear that they want to share that fun with their audience, the track always avoids the risk of becoming pretentious, putting its style flourishes at the service of its ultimate goal, which is to be engaging and compelling. If anything, there is a feeling - as there often is with the work of Pyncher, who started out as a live band and still do their best when they’re performing for a live audience - that this is a good occasion to showcase the finesse elements of the song in the studio, but that the track itself would hit with its full power only when performed on the stage. If you needed an incentive to go see Pyncher live this Summer, this may just be another one.

Upcoming Dates:

4 APR // Manchester, Academy 2 (Supporting Delights)

11 APR // Brighton, The Hope & Ruin (supporting Hallan)

2 MAY // Portsmouth, Awakening Festival

5 MAY // London, Old Blue Last

15-17 MAY // Brighton, The Alternative Escape

27 MAY // Hull, Humber Street Sesh Festival

19 MAY // Manchester, YES (Basement)

29 AUG // Brighton Psych Fest

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