The Bear Necessities

In local music terms, 2009 has been given the all-singing, all-dancing build up.

How reassuring then, to find the first significant release of the year is more than worthy of the razzmatazz.
This Hope Will Kill Us, the debut album by Panda Kopanda, is a super-confident statement of intent from the Belfast four-piece – shamelessly poppy but also pleasingly experimental. With one smart body-swerve, in this most competitive of years, they’ve moved to the front of the pack.
We asked bassist John Mills and drummer, David Agnew to explain what went into the mix.
As you’ll see, sushi, dog-stabbers and Inspector Gadget all had a part to play.
1. ‘A Humble God’
John: “This song more or less changed our whole approach to songwriting. This was the first Panda Kopanda song to grow entirely from scratch in the rehearsal room. In the past Gavin would normally bring the absolute bare bones of a song to us and we would start from there. But this time we started with nothing and just began firing ideas around. We enjoyed the process and the results so much that we decided to stick with this way of working from then on.”
2. ‘I Know You’re Hurting’
John: “Simple and melodic with a slightly dark edge. We decided to break out the violin, cello and piano for a bit of subtle embellishment. I’d say this is one of the more radio-friendly tracks on the album and it seems to enjoy a lot of popularity with our online listeners.”
3. ‘Secret Places’
David: “This song captures the essence of the early days of the band, when concise structures, big dynamic swings and contagious vocal melodies that leak into your brain were the order of the day. There’s a massive wrong note at the start of this and we couldn’t work out where it came from. Needless to say we managed to convince ourselves that it sounded good so we didn’t have to record another take!”
4. ‘Spirals’
David: “‘Spirals’ is a beautifully arranged tune about staying out late and getting bladdered. Simply put: a drunk love song. It features the sounds of some of the drunkards in the Errigle Inn, where guitarist/keyboardist Jonny works. If you listen carefully you can hear one customer saying ‘Jonny, eh, would you pass us a couple of them…’”
5. ‘Open Ground’
John: “Gavin wrote the lyrics after returning from a trip to Iceland. This is the most atmospheric and sparse song on the album – which is probably in keeping with the subtle, sinister lyrical undercurrent.”
6. ‘The Smallest Perfect Number’
David: “This is like interval entertainment, breaking up the show into two parts. Or our version of the slivers of ginger you get in sushi restaurants to cleanse your pallet. It’s short, sharp and not entirely unpleasant! The horrendously out of tune piano featured in the song was later burnt for kindling.”
7. ‘This Hope Will Kill Us’
John: “This was written shortly after ‘A Humble God’ and we seemed to be on something of a roll with epic sounds and our now trademark ’Drums Of Doom’. Jonny’s choppy bass-synth forms the backbone of another melodic excursion into occasional storms of feedback and distortion. It’s like the musical equivalent of Tony Soprano – a bit big, a bit loud, and a bit dangerous, but it’s got charm and women still find it attractive.”
8. ‘Ocean Of Fire’
John: “A grittier re-working of the title-track from our second EP. We wanted to go for a slightly more ballsy or visceral approach to the song than the previous version. It’s still the same lost-love song at heart but with less sugar and more meat.”
9. ‘Hypnogog’
John: “Interesting fact #1: I recorded the intro to this when working as a lighting tech at an Opera in a mental hospital (where incidentally, I ate lunch with a man who was locked up for stabbing a dog!) True story.
Interesting fact #2: The idea for the outro rather fittingly came to me in a dream. I woke up one morning from a meandering dream where I had been intensely focused on playing a song with a bizarre 5/4 - 7/4 - 3/4 time signature and with a three-chord progression that alternated between minor/Major/minor and Major/minor/Major. Somehow I persuaded the band to go along with it!”
David: “We like to think that the song sounds a bit like a David Lynch film… plus it’s got a guitar solo that’s like the theme-tune to Inspector Gadget.”
10. ‘To Carry You Home’
David: “A pop tune that builds and builds until most of the band cuts out and everything is bastardised beyond recognition. It eventually finds it way again, we rock with our cocks out and all live happily ever after!”

This Hope Will Kill Us on Furious Tradesmen is available now