PREMIERE: Download an unreleased Night Panther song, hear their “lost” Key Studio Session
Back in November, Philly electropop outfit Night Panther announced with great modesty that, despite a steady momentum and growing Internet following, they were calling it a day. Its final EP, the Jonathan Low-produced Desire, was shared on the Doylestown band’s social media channels with the wistful note “G’night everyone, Night Panther is no longer. Please enjoy our final EP… Thanks for all the memories <3 NP”
Like most of us in the Philly music media, the news – while surprising – wasn’t a total shock. When Kate Bracaglia interviewed the band in advance of their April residency at Bourbon and Branch, they hinted at changes. And, as guitarist Chris Radwanski clarified when I recently recorded his new band Suburban Living (look for that Key Session soon), “we were gonna change our name. But then we just decided to break up.”
Unheard music from the band is still surfacing, however. Today, we’re happy to bring you the unreleased, ominously-titled yet delightful-sounding “Our Time Is Fading,” an outtake from the sessions for their 2014 EP KISS. It’s got a lively, Erasure-esque groove, and you can download yourself a free mp3 below.
Speaking of premonitions and Key Studio Sessions, the band actually recorded for us (as Night Panther) back in the spring of 2014, when they first hinted to me at the idea of a forthcoming announcement. They weren’t ready to make it, though, and asked that I wait to release the Key Session until the timing was right. I waited, and as the months passed, the session got lost.
With the release of “Our Time is Fading,” I went and dug up their performance. Below, you can watch a video of the band in our studio, bathed in blue and purple lights, grooving to “Night Lights.” Just past that, stream / download the three-song set. Night Panther may no longer be with us as an active, real-world band, but their tunes still have the power to make us dance.