Pardoner's 'Target Practice' Is a Thundercloud-Bright Masterpiece of Concision
The most interesting decision on Target Practice is a deletion. Pardoner’s own label bio names it outright: absent are “the surprise blast beats and scene changes that were hallmarks of Came Down Different (2021) and Peace Loving People (2023).” What’s left is eleven songs, six of them under two minutes, and a band betting everything on melody holding the weight the detours used to carry.
The Sonic Breakdown
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Colin Burris plays against the grain of static guitar harmony — Stereogum, hearing the lead single, called him “a stealth MVP here, walking all over this song so it can fly,” which is exactly the trick: the guitars hang on what Stereogum identified as “the same old major 7th chords” while the bass does the moving. The Spatial Dynamics: Ian Norris mixed, Mikey Young mastered, and the vocals sit under the band rather than on top of it — Bandcamp Daily’s Jennifer Kelly notes the singing works “against a deafening assault of guitars/bass and drums,” with “submerged verses” on “We’re Living In Violent Times.” Jordan Pantalone, one of three credited recording engineers, adds saxophone to opener “Canary.”
Standout Performance
Burris again. On a record this compressed, the bass is the only instrument with room to editorialize, and he uses all of it.
Why It’s Certified
Kelly’s verdict is the one to hold onto: “The guitars gather like a thundercloud, buzzing with electricity, threaded through with the sweet smirk of melody,” and across most of the album Pardoner balances “blare with blushing poetic sensitivity, the low-fire racket with drifting clouds of tuneful-ness. It pleases without pandering.” Post-Trash heard the lead single marry “the band’s jangle and shoegaze into a more perfect union.” Then they close with a Barracudas cover — “Inchoate roar, spiraling riffs, the murmuring drift of dream-pop vocals,” per Kelly, “chaotic and intoxicating, just the way it ought to be.”