Within indie music’s modern shoegaze renaissance, PANIK FLOWER stand out as one of the movement’s most exciting new acts. With the release of their sophomore EP rearview, out today, the New York City indie rock group convey personal themes surrounding identity and self-reflection through fuzzed out, hard-hitting guitars and a uniquely poetic artistry.
Pulling influence from ’90s rock and the enigmatic power of live performance, PANIK FLOWER are renowned for their connection to fans through their music. Composed of vocalist Sage Leopold, guitarist Mila Stieglitz-Courtney, guitarist Jordan Buzzell, bassist Max Baird and newly-acquired drummer Marco Starger, PANIK FLOWER are vocal about the group being a collaborative effort, with each member bringing forward their own intention and musical contributions.
The band’s new record serves as both a transformative and defining body of work, reflecting a level of extensive growth and maturity from the group. Rearview directly follows the band’s 2023 debut EP Dark Blue, which offered commentary on the outside world and interpersonal relationships. Now, rearview marks a shift in tone from PANIK FLOWER as they turn from looking outward to looking inward. Drenched in introspection and reflection on identity, rearview serves as the ultimate realization that, more often than not, creativity can be found within.
With the album’s release arrives a haunting music video for the album’s title track. Directed by Harleigh Shaw, the “rearview” music video pulls inspiration from the horror genre to tell a story of one being unable to outrun their own worst enemy — themselves.
“During the song’s chaotic and moody outro, we aimed to show Sage increasingly disheveled and tired as the video evolves,” Shaw says. “The film, ‘The Amusement Park,’ was a major reference for this specific section of the video. I was also very inspired by David Lynch’s films, especially because we conceptualized and shot the video right after he passed away. From an editing perspective, ‘Natural Born Killers’ was a big reference with the way it utilizes saturated colors and frenetic editing. We leaned into chaotic cuts and playing with speed, all which contributed to heightening the drama of Sage running from herself.”
On May 21, PANIK FLOWER will play an EP release show in their hometown of New York City before heading out on their Rearview Tour this June. Ahead of the release of rearview, several members of the group sat down with Melodic Magazine to discuss the resurgence of popularity in the shoegaze genre, what listeners can expect from rearview and why its best to go see them live on tour.
The album is coming out April 30, but the new single “OCD” came out recently, so I wanted to dig into that first. I love the subject that the song tackles regarding media consumption, I feel like that’s such a prevalent topic today to write about. But I was wondering why that topic specifically was so important for you to all write about.
Sage: I feel like it’s something that we encounter in our everyday lives, and I think for me when I wrote the song I was at a place in my life where I realized it’s so hard to tear yourself away from that when it’s both an escape and also a source of anxiety or obsession. Funnily enough, I wrote those lyrics when I was walking down the street, which feels like the opposite of what that song is, in a way. But in the same breath it was still on my mind, even when I was completely out of the zone of being in bed or on the couch scrolling.
Mila: I think it’s funny because I feel like it’s something that speaks to me in a personal sense. But I think some of what Sage was talking about in terms of just the dual nature of it, specifically doing music and trying to share your music and put it out in that way. It’s just a new way to engage with the world with music. I feel like it is something that we think about a lot as a band as well as individually, how we engage with people online and how much more online we need to be by wanting to share our music. I think that it’s so awesome to be able to share music with people in that way. But I think how we approach that is something that we’ve talked about.
Jordan: And it was just an opportunity to reflect. The song really helped me reflect on my relationship with technology and social media, and you can kind of hear in the song there’s moments where it’s very cathartic and kind of lulls you in, and then there’s the chorus which is just the chaos that you feel from that too. So it was a nice chance to reflect on that.
With social media nowadays you almost need to use social media or have some sort of TikTok presence to be successful. What are your guys’ thoughts on how it’s influencing music or the music industry now?
Mila: I feel like because I’m not on [TikTok] I have a bit more of a distance from it. Similarly, I think it’s so amazing how much it’s helping people take off, and there’s also this cool resurgence of a lot of songs through the app. But it’s definitely difficult to sort of think about when writing something or putting it out, considering how it’s going to work in the algorithm or whatever. It can be amazing, but it can be tricky.
Sage: It’s interesting because I feel like there are few select indie bands or heavier bands that have actually done really well on TikTok, but I do feel like for the majority of musicians on TikTok, it’s a lot of solo artists. Maybe my perception is wrong about that. I mean, we talk about Wisp all the time — we love Wisp — and she really blew up on TikTok. I’m kind of chronically on TikTok, and I think it’s funny how a lot of the fashion girlies on TikTok are doing their outfit checks to hardcore shoegaze. Which is kind of cool to see in a way, because it’s this meeting of two worlds that I really love personally. But I think in a sense it’s helped shoegaze be more mainstream. People are probably going to come at me for saying this, but I think people are recognizing how complex guitar driven music is and really getting into the nitty gritty of that.
There seems to be more of a shoegaze presence now than ever before. A lot of artists have been coming up, like Wisp or Glixen, and now you say all the fashion girlies are using shoegaze and hardcore music in their TikToks. What do you think draws people to these genres of music?
Mila: I have my personal theory, not specific to fashion girlies, but in general. I feel like there’s something about this really weird, uncertain economic and social time. And there’s probably something to be said about music styles that are coming back that happen to be a little bit heavier and a little bit more angry or angsty that probably map to something that’s going on socially and economically. I feel like Sage and I joke a lot about “recession core” in different contexts about either style or music, and obviously shoegaze is much farther back than the recession or 2008, but I feel like there’s something there. I think there is something also really cathartic about the heaviness that I think a lot of people can get behind or can relate to.
Jordan: There’s that sense of dread, frustration and anxiety paired with this aesthetic. A lot of the styles I’ve seen in the past are coming back, and people just want to get lost in that overwhelming wall of sound. It’s very comforting in a way but also allows you to sort of express frustration with the world. It’s got that heaviness, that grittiness, but it’s a renaissance right now. I’m loving it. You mentioned Glixen, and I actually got to see them a couple weekends ago. And this band She’s Green is amazing; I’m a huge fan. And guitar technology, too, I think has come a long way since the original wave of shoegaze. Now there’s a new modern spin on it too where you can get heavier. You can get weirder with the sort of jangly delay patterns of the clean parts and then just layer on these crazy walls of fuzz and hit all these different parts of your brain. It’s a piece of the old, but with that really cool newness to it, which is nice.
I love that! Going back to the recent single, a music video came out for it as well. You said it was very inspired by ’90s grunge influences and aesthetics, which I really love. What draws you to that ’90s grunge aesthetic and what do you think modern music might be lacking that that decade had?
Sage: I spent my mornings in elementary school — not that I was in elementary school in the ’90s –but I loved watching ’90s music videos. I’ve always been a huge fan of music videos and just the visual component of music. And I think so many of those videos are so iconic, and there didn’t need to be a whole storyline. Which I’m not saying I don’t love a storyline, but I think there is something to be said about what you can do in the editing process or what you can do with camera work. I’m also a filmmaker, so that’s important to me. But some of those classic Sonic Youth videos and Veruca Salt videos, those live in my brain rent free just because they’re so iconic. And it was just another way to be creative as opposed to something that you needed to do.
“OCD” is the recent single that has come out ahead of the new album, rearview. How is rearview different from your previous EP Dark Blue?
Mila: From a songwriting perspective, I think this one truly feels like a real joint effort both in terms of the instrumentation or the chords and then the lyrics or some of the ideas as well. He isn’t on the call, but we had a new drummer who joined about a year and a half ago, and he’s just a powerhouse. He just writes so much. I feel like I don’t know many drummers that bring as many songs as he does. I feel like that just brought a really awesome motivation and it just really put us on a songwriting kick. And then also I feel like style wise it all sort of really came together. There’s this heaviness but also some more post-punk elements as well. Something we’ve talked a lot about is, in terms of themes, our first project was a lot more outward about relationships and relationships to other people. And this project is a lot more inward and self-reflecting. It’s been cool to explore that in terms of what the songs are about. This project I think is a lot heavier and super representative of our current sound and the other stuff that we’ve been writing.
I’m glad you mentioned on this album’s shift in tone compared to the last one. What inspired that shift from looking outward to looking inward?
Sage: With the last EP that we put out, I was in a place in my life where my relationships with other people were kind of dictating my focal point and who I was in that place. And I feel like getting older you kind of realize, I don’t need to be looking outside of myself for inspiration or the things that. My creativity is within me.
Mila: I feel like with songwriting it catches you in that moment. With lyrics, it’s so driven by where you’re at in that specific moment in time. Without speaking for Sage, I feel like it’s about entering new phases and relationships and how that affects you, and inward reflection becoming more important over time.
Sage: You make a really good point. I went through a very intense period when we were writing this last EP, so I think I was very hyper focused on a lot of situations and dynamics in my life that weren’t working for me and how I really could feel myself changing and reflecting. I feel like the new stuff that we’re writing — not to get into the new stuff — but it feels very focused on what’s going on in the world right now, which I don’t think would have been a thing that we were writing about a year ago.
Rearview comes out April 30 – with the album coming out soon, what are you all most excited about?
Jordan: I am so excited for the title track of the album, because it’s one where we just really descend into absolute chaos, and we pretty much are getting as weird as possible towards the end of it. I think that’s kind of a new concept for us. Not really a jam, but just kind of allowing a freight train to go off the tracks and relinquishing that control to a higher power, which is just absolute chaos. So I’m really excited for that one to come out and to be able to send it out to everyone.
Mila: I’m just really excited for, kind of what I was saying earlier, about how it feels like we’ve really hit our stride in terms of our collective sound and songwriting together. So I think being able to share that with people and share the evolution, musically, from our first project to this, I think is really exciting.
Was there a specific song or even a riff on the album that each of you are most proud of that you contributed?
Mila: We already put it out, but I love “alkaline.” I usually play with them, but Jordy kindly let me riff on that one a little bit, so I love playing that one so much. And “rearview,” the title track as well. I felt really proud of that one.
Jordan: I would also throw “symptom of a paradox” in there. That one is a slap in the face with a lot of sound and Mila shredding right at the beginning.
Sage: I love “symptom” because I just love singing that song. But I think there’s something so special about “rearview.” We weren’t originally going to put it on the EP, because Marco had just brought it to us. We were like, let’s just play it for this show that we have and see what happens, and people kind of freaked out. I don’t want to give too much away, but the end is completely improvised, so we never play it the same way twice. There are moments when we play it live where I feel like we really get to this place of collective consciousness where we’re all just simultaneously in our own worlds, but also really connected. There’s not that many people who get to experience that. I’m getting all mushy now, but we all love playing with each other and I feel like as intense as that song is, it is also this moment of complete awareness and listening to each other and communication.
Jordan: A fun anecdote on playing that song live. I think it was the first New Colossus show we played. I had a really hard week and I was so excited to play that live. I was so into it I broke my guitar pick while playing it, which I’ve never done before (laughs). It’s usually a string, but snapped a guitar pick right in half playing.
I didn’t even know that was possible!
Jordan: Well I have this thing, it’s a hole puncher that makes guitar picks out of old ID’s or credit cards, and sadly it had a picture of my grandma on it, so I broke Grandma during that (laughter).
That just shows the power of the song, clearly (laughter). But the album as we’ve said speaks a lot on growth, self-acceptance and identity. What have you all learned about yourselves while making the album?
Sage: This album has around for a year basically, but it’s really interesting to look back on lyrics that we wrote a year ago and see them in a new way. Sometimes I don’t really know what a lyric is about, but I just like it, and then later on I can reflect on it, or I can apply this to myself now. I just think writing music and making music is a really interesting way to mark growth in general and a continuous way to mark growth because you’re constantly reflecting on what it means now and what it meant then.
Mila: As we’re saying it’s more of a thing around identity and self, but I also happened to go through a breakup in that time. And it’s so funny how lyrics or things that we wrote a year ago feel even more true now coming out of that and being in a much better place personally. I guess it’s learning about myself or just finding things within yourself rather than in other people, I feel like that’s been something that’s come up a lot for me in my personal life, and I feel like that’s something that rearview speaks to. Sometimes as I think more about the lyrics now it hits in such a different way. There’s a lot of personal growth as well as band growth.
Sage: In a way, the project has really shifted our dynamic as a band. We’re all just so close.
Jordan: Coming into the band I felt like there was a lot of chaos in my head, and what this new project has allowed me to do is maybe silence some of that and not over complicate so many things in my head and not let myself spiral. And this group of people really allows me to do that. I know it’s a very inward-looking project, but part of grappling with my inner self is actually being able to look outward. In the music there’s a lot more listening from my end and looking around while we’re playing and really absorbing it and fitting in the folds of each other’s patterns. Then that creates a sort of inner peace, for me at least. And these are my sisters from another mister (laughter).
What do you hope listeners will get once they hear the record?
Sage: I think that cathartic release. As painful as some of that stuff might have been to go through and come to terms with, I hope listeners find whatever they’re looking for in it, in a way. Whether that be from a sonic perspective or a lyrical perspective.
Jordan: Getting lost in fuzz and having catharsis can provide a nice sort of endorphin rush. But then there’s still questions that we’re posing, like in “OCD” it’s, “What’s our relationship with screens?” So there’s still that ability to reflect, but then it’s still open-ended enough to where you can interpret it however you need or however you want and then also just enjoy yourself and get smacked in the ear with some fuzz and just get lost in it.
Once the album comes out, without giving too much away, what are some future plans or projects that fans should be on the lookout for?
Sage: We’re planning a tour. Every time we write a new song, we’re really eager to get it out there. So they should probably be expecting music soonish after the album comes out. I feel like we’re just very keen to get stuff out there, and we’ve always had the mentality that we should play music to audiences before we record and feel it out for ourselves. But yeah, just like playing a lot more, I think.
Mila: Just plus one to what Sage said, we like to try new things live, so if you come see us live, you might hear something that’s never been recorded. And we are even discussing some new stuff for our next upcoming shows. But you can only see it live.
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