Earnestness, sincerity, and authenticity will go a long ways in making poorly played music bearable, endearing
and, on rare occasion, even brilliant. Sadly, June Panic has none of those qualities. What he does have is a
massive ego, an unhealthy sense of self-importance, a gigantic Bob Dylan fixation, and apparently unlimited
access to a studio. This would all be fine if he lacked that part about the studio.
First, there is the title, which is not just Horri Vacui, but the Forth Conflict of the Transcendental
Ideas in Relation to Primordial Horror Vacui, i.e. Fear of Open Spaces, or, the worst title ever (if you have
heard worse, please email me). The album is not divided into "sides" but, instead, a "First Proof" and a
"Second Proof" and the songs are divided, alternately, into the categories of "Thesis" and "Antithesis." At the
end of the lyric sheet there is the statement "Dissolution of the Conflict in Demonstrating the Impossibility of
Space as a Lack." Too bad Mr. Panic did not go to college where he could have worked all of this crap out of
his system, subjecting only grad student TAs to it, rather than exposing the general public to his brilliant
ideas.
To his credit, June Panic's music itself is not so bad. Basically, it's a mixture of straight folk and roots rock,
obviously inspired by Dylan, in the former, and Tom Petty, in the later, but without either of those musicians'
talent. Most songs are acoustic guitar driven, with a backup band of electric guitar, bass, organ drums. The
band is competent and the organ parts are generally pretty good, but I've always been a sucker for organs.
It all falls apart, however, as soon as June opens his cursed mouth. His voice is shallow, nasaly, weak and
perpetually flat. Neither of the aforementioned comparisons have particularly beautiful singing voices, but they
can generally (at least in the case of Petty) hit the notes and, particularly in the case of Dylan, have something
to say that is 1) worth saying and 2) honestly in earnest. The only things that Panic seems earnest about are
being a big, fat pompous ass and trying too hard to sound like Dylan. Given that Dylan himself can be awfully
hard to take, there is really no reasonable explanation for what Panic is doing.
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