Playing through two sets ripe with deep synthesizers, electric guitars and pounding drums, PandaCorn thrilled concertgoers at Friday night’s installment of the Southern Plains Co-op After Dark music series.
The Moose Jaw trio worked their way through their catalogue of music and a handful of cover songs during the performance at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum. Comprised of Megan Nash, Brodie Mohninger and Ryan Schnell.
The band played through most of their EP, Synthesis of Opposites, while Nash showed off her best Stevie Nicks impression during a pair of covers.
PandaCorn’s upbeat, synth-based sound also fits right in with a 1980s new wave style, and it showed well in their Talking Heads cover of Psycho Killer, but they also managed a high-energy take on Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark.
While some of those covers may have been more familiar tunes for much of the audience, the band’s original tracks impressed, through Mohninger’s guitar solos, Nash’s vocals and Schnell’s machine gun drums. Those tracks included Mother’s Daughter, The Mighty Birch, Lifer and Forgotten Machines, a song about what we’ve lost from the past, inspired by old farm machinery left to rust in ditches.
While the EAGM wasn’t the bands first art gallery show, Schnell noted that playing in a small room to an audience of about 30 was a bit of an adjustment. Though the band played a loud, full instrumental show, he said they could play a little softer because they didn’t have as much ambient noise to deal with.
Mohninger said he is in the process of booking tour dates across Canada for the spring and summer. While the warmer months are prime for touring, when they’re playing on the Prairies, he noted they’ve developed a bit of a following in Saskatoon where they play most of their shows. Moose Jaw, Mohninger said, is simply a difficult city to play regularly.
PandaCorn gets its name from combining a panda and unicorn, a pair of costumes sometimes worn by Mohninger and Nash during performances. At the EAGM, those costumes were on display as part of the set but not worn.
The next After Dark concert will feature Blake Berglund on March 13.
