Twenty-five years ago, a group of school friends in Nottingham pressed a small run of an EP titled D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, watched it sink into obscurity, and promptly went back to normal life. For two decades, the members of Panchiko assumed that was the end of the story. Then came 2016, when a scratched disc turned up in a charity shop, sparking an obsessive internet hunt that took four years to trace the recording back to its makers. By 2020, the musicians resurfaced to find a massive, dedicated following that had built up around their work without their knowledge.
Rather than treating that rediscovery as an odd footnote, Panchiko turned it into an active career. They returned to the studio and the road, following 2023's Failed At Math(s) and their recent release Ginkgo with steady creative output. Now, the band has announced plans for their third full-length record, titled Chimera, due out on April 9, 2027 through Nettwerk.
The announcement comes paired with the record's lead single, One Car Hits Another, featuring guest vocals from indie songwriter Mei Semones. The track joins classic Britpop melodic sensibility with indie rock guitars and fractured digital noise, setting up a sharp contrast between musical grace and unsettling subject matter. It approaches disaster from a calm, almost dispassionate angle.
Andy Wright of the band detailed the idea behind the track, explaining that he pictured a serene waltz set against a car collision, where bystanders and soon to be roadkill join in song as the impact happens in slow motion. Wright reflected on how a handshake and a car crash share a peculiar technical resemblance, pointing out that both are simply moments where two objects meet. A plain, factual news report might detail the sequence of events, but it seldom captures where the true damage actually settles.
Recorded at the band's own studio space, Chimera spans twelve original tracks that shift across shoegaze, pop, hip-hop, and downtempo ballads. Semones appears across three songs in total, lending her voice to Glazing and Zinc Spark alongside the lead single. The guest list also pulls from far outside the band's original circle. Rapper billy woods and Cotillon contribute to the opening track, Day One, while Clarion performs on Overwrite and Giorgia. Trumpeter Hugh Pascall appears on Glazing, Korea Girl joins on Zinc Spark, Abby Sage and CJ's Mirra Maze feature on the title track, and Lula Nova appears on Passing. The remaining tracks, Runtime, Glas Lands, Swallowing Keys, and Trickle, feature the core group alone.
Panchiko are currently testing their material on the road across the UK and Ireland. The tour visits Electric Bristol on October 23 and London's Roundhouse on October 24, before heading north to New Century Hall in Manchester on October 28. The run wraps up with dates at the Empire Music Hall in Belfast on October 30 and Dublin's Vicar Street on October 31.
Between those appearances, the band has scheduled an event for fans in London. On Sunday, October 25, they will host a one-day pop-up at JERKS and WASTE on Hackney Road, offering archival art, exclusive merchandise, and complimentary vinyl pressings of One Car Hits Another. For listeners who first discovered the band when their physical recordings were practically impossible to find, walking away with a free disc from the musicians themselves makes for a fitting marker of how far the project has travelled.
