Pandovisia - The Last Man on the Net

Now, with the danger of perhaps divulging too much personal information, it is best to straight away reveal some issues in the writing of this article. First and foremost I have to announce that I am reviewing this Pandovisia album because I have a personal connection within the band. This does not, however, mean that this is a promotion of an album but, instead, the review the title promises. I have entered this review with an open mind and as much of a neutral perspective as possible.

Perhaps the best show of my attempted neutrality lies in what I will next admit: I don’t really like electronic music. It is possible I do not know much about electronic music and therefore judge it based on very little but I have always seen Kraftwerk as a symbol of the genre (which might tell you enough about my knowledge on the genre) and I feel I can safely say that I never really got Kraftwerk.

Why is this all relevant? Well the problem lies in that this album sounds a whole lot like Kraftwerk. The songs are sung with foreign accents. There are electronic keyboards, electronic guitars, there are even electronic whirling and whizzing noses. What The Last Man on the Net consists of is a whole barrage on your ears by computer inspired sonic waves.

So it is probably only natural to say that at first listen I wasn’t sure about the album. It was just not to my taste. But then I began to listen to it properly and with more frequent listens my opinion of it began to grow. I can safely say that now when I look at the album I truly appreciate it. What I had really begun to do whilst listening is to allow myself to enter into Pandovisia’s world in a Tron-like fashion.

There lies importance in calling the listening experience as an ‘entering into Pandovisia’s world’ as what we have with this album is a creation of a new realm, a realm where Pandovisia’s imagination runs riot. Where our world meets the computer world and they fuse together. It’s a symbiotic relationship and it is very self-aware.

Where this fusion is at its clearest is in the humor within the music. There are songs where certain lyrics are usually expected where we see instead Pandovisia using the opportunity to humorously display their own jargon. Simply look at “Backups Are Forever”, the band’s attempt at a love-song, where Pandovisia’s singer berates his ex-lover for trying to forget him. There is no talk of broken hearts or shattered illusions but instead we hear that the paramour intends to ‘erase’ her memory of the singer, like a computer file, but she will fails as he will be back as, logically, “Back-Ups are Forever.” Further examples lies in songs such as “Private Browsing” where we hear that the singer would now like “to spend some time by myself” only that it has to be “in Private Browsing.” All is, of course, tongue in cheek.

But this is not to devalue their album in making it seem to be a comic piece. There is thought and seriousness behind this. Pandovisia’s world, although half mechanical, has emotions behind it. They just have a unique way to present these emotions. Furthermore the songs themselves are very well constructed. It’s hard not to sing along to the well-structured “Let’s Kill Our Avatars Tonight” or move your hips to the rhythm in “Strange Attachment.”

Criticism perhaps lays in, funnily enough, the consistency of the album. Thematically and rhythmically the album is unfluctuating and keeps straight with the artistic vision. This does at times mean the album itself can sound slightly repetitive making slower songs such as Safe Mode more welcome in that it gives the album a slight break.

However, that is nitpicking. The Last Man on the Net is a fun album that stands out in the guitar band world with its retro, electronic style. There is consistency within the album and hopefully it can be built upon and expanded. Now all I need is that £50 my personal connection promised me for this review.