Pynch – Beautiful Noise (2025) Review: While their debut album, Howling at a Concrete Moon, was drenched in modern anxieties and struggling to find one’s place in today’s society, London indie rock foursome Pynch are looking more inward on their second record together, trying to decipher what it really means to be an indie band in the confusing world they attempted to paint a picture of two years ago. Sadly, Beautiful Noise doesn’t do a great deal in answering these pertinent questions. What Pynch have attempted to do across the ten songs on this follow-up is explore a greater variety of sounds, bringing in shimmering synth textures and occasional glitchiness that layers over the walls of guitar noise that pervade through the majority of the record. However, while there is a sense that they’re looking to dive into a broader range of influences, they’re cautious about letting any of them take hold of their sound to the point where they’re reinventing themselves, and any attempts at experimentation are played far too safe. They even spell out their ambitions for the listener on the second track, which opens with the line: “It’s post-punk, it’s new wave, with a little bit of shoegaze, I want it all, I want it all.” The thing is, ‘Post-Punk / New Wave’ tries to have elements of all of the listed genres, and yet it doesn’t feel comfortable in taking any risks to really establish any of them as their strong suit. Yes, it’s meant to be a tongue-in-cheek stab at the futility of genre categorisation and bands attempting to pigeonhole themselves into a certain scene, but what those who are successful in those genres manage to do is master their craft to the point where their categorisation is definite and identifiable. Pynch may be influenced by all of the above, but it all ends up in a homogenised blur of styles that lacks conviction and unfortunately ends up harking back to the dreariest era of indie rock, where inoffensiveness passed as authenticity. While this proclamation of wanting to be a part of multiple scenes could have been demonstrated later on in the album, very little variation is felt from song to song, and the album falters because the band fail to convince themselves that they’re good enough to take things a step further. Taken in isolation, some of these tracks possess a charm about them, but when placed in the context of an album that doesn’t throw any surprises or curveballs at the listener and is frightened about the prospect of shifting beyond second gear, they’re sapped of their appeal. ‘How You Love Someone’ could have been a great new wave track, but because it coasts its way through a vibe and doesn’t dare to push things any further, it gets lost at the centre of an album that appears to be formulaically dipping its toes into different styles rather than confidently asserting that they’ve figured out the right combination. What could potentially rescue this album from being underdeveloped is standout lyricism, and yet, this also appears not to be a strong point. Songs like ‘Microwave Rhapsody’ try to evoke a listlessness and frustrated attitude through lines like “does it even matter at all, can you really count on anything”, but what is this really saying? Frontman Spencer Enock is using stock phrase ennui here, but there’s no emotion in the delivery to back it up, nor is there any real despair in this empty poetry. Beautiful Noise isn’t unlistenable in any sense, but it doesn’t really make itself want to be heard. The cornet on the title track that sits in the midst of a freakout feels so forced, as though the band weren’t entirely sure about how to shoehorn in an additional layer, and that just about sums up the record. Pynch can play and write half-decent songs, but they don’t really know what to do with them, and end up settling for blending into the surroundings. — faroutmagazine.co.uk Track List: 01. Forever 02. Post-Punk _ New-Wave 03. Hanging on a Bassline 04. The Supermarket 05. How You Love Someone 06. Revolve Around You 07. Microwave Rhapsody 08. Beautiful Noise 09. Come Outside 10. It's Wonderful Media Report: Genre: dream-pop, post-punk Origin: London, UK Format: FLAC Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec Bit rate mode: Variable Channel(s): 2 channels Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz Bit depth: 16 bits Compression mode: Lossless Writing library: libFLAC 1.3.0 (UTC 2013-05-26) Note: If you like the music, support the artist