Panel is an exciting new project that serves as the next step for Annie Sparrows, whom you might remember from early 2000s punk band The Soviettes. She’s also worked in bands like Awesome Snakes, the God Damn Doo Wop Band, Bermuda Squares, and green/blue. But now Panel is a very different sort of project for Sparrows, finding the artist at her most vulnerable and serving as a band’s sole songwriter for the first time. The album A Great Time to Be an Empath was written in a sort of grief-induced nervous breakdown after years of watching her her beloved auntie, Renee Anita, slowly become paralyzed and die from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.
Today, we’re spotlighting the album in its entirety, which was released this past Friday on Don’t Sing Records. From the pulse pounding introduction of “Breakdown” to the somber reflection of “Two Little Dogs” to the slow rumble of closing track “Neurotica,” this is a journey through a number of emotions that culminates in a satisfying catharsis.
“A Great Time to Be an Empath is a collection of songs I wrote here and there during different stages of grief, mania, depression, and nihilism, reflecting on the decline and passing of my auntie Renee from a terminal illness,” Sparrows explains about the album. “There’s a lot of sarcasm in here, but there’s also a lot of raw truth and vulnerability. It’s surprisingly difficult to put these songs out there but maybe folks will relate or put their own meaning to them and party along. We’ll be on tour late July heading out to Pedro, kind of a ‘back home’ in that the town has been pivotal for me throughout the years, and in unexpected ways. See ya out there.”
Check out the album below.
