Written by Paolo Elwick
Shaun Alina’s Metro Manila-based alt rock outfit Panjia returns with their second EP ‘Astroboy,’ a sharper, more focused follow-up to their 2023 EP ‘all the colors that make you!!!’ Across the four-track project, the band paddles deeper into the waters of shoegaze and noise rock with a dense, feedback-heavy sound that feels both abrasive and vulnerable. The result is an EP that perfectly captures the kind of exhaustion that comes from living in a crowded city where everything feels too loud, too fast, and emotionally distant all at once.
From the explosive, almost-cinematic intro that is “Rat Attack on Metro Manila!!!” to the relentless onslaught of drums on “Nauubusan Nanaman Ng Pagmamahal Si Belinda,” Astroboy is clearly built on a foundation of tension. And this is most evident when guitars crash through layers of distortion to create textured riffs that feel like the sonic equivalent of running your hands across concrete—which is exactly what makes the EP work. The distortion isn’t just there for aesthetic or shock value, it’s actually embedded into the storytelling itself.
The use of repetition, feedback, and grating instrumentals all come together to stage a sonic atmosphere that feels suffocating in a way that mirrors the emotional and physical fatigue of the urban day-to-day experience. But even at its most chaotic, the EP never feels directionless because the three-man group understands how to control momentum, allowing tracks to swell, collapse, and breathe without losing any weight. At times, the songs even feel like they’re on the verge of imploding or falling apart, but that instability is exactly what makes Astroboy exciting.
It’s also no surprise that underneath all the noise and texture is a generous amount of vulnerability. Whether through melodies or personal lines buried underneath rough riffs and distorted strings like “Can’t you see / That I am not / Whoever you / Must think I am” from the closing track “Astroboy,” Panjia consistently finds a way to make chaos feel human by injecting softness and vulnerability into the harsh walls of sound they create.
For a project with a run time of just over 13 minutes, ‘Astroboy’ is remarkably cohesive. Panjia captures the overwhelming nature of modern life without overexplaining it, trusting texture and atmosphere to communicate what words often can’t, creating an EP that’s loud, restless, and emotionally worn down—but also deeply alive.
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