Pachinko

This album has been added to 2 public lists:

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  Ryan's Top 10 Albums of 2025

  Ryan Anderson

  Thematic/lyrical content: grief, meaning of life, human connection, existentialism, society. All told through a story about a person being reincarnated into a sentient pachinko machine

  Moron Police's previous album Boat on the Sea holds a special place in my heart. It was an early pandemic obsession and something I listened to in my car's CD player as I drove over to Caity's apartment each night. Expectations were very high for their follow up this year.

  Pachinko somehow shattered those expectations; they doubled and tripled down on what made their previous album so special. The instrumentation is lush and gorgeous, the melodies are soaring and anthemic, and the lyrics are as wacky as they are poignant.

  There are constant leitmotifs scattered throughout tying the whole thing together as a well-paced and cohesive package. This leads to some of the best climatic moments of the year where layers build in a masterful way such as the strings that come in during the final chorus of "Pachinko, Pt. 1". There are even some musical references to Boat on the Sea such as in "Cormorant", a song dedicated to the band's sadly deceased friend and drummer who passed in a car accident a few years ago. The song builds to a final epic, wall of sound and blast beat section that musically echos the melody and lyrics "I am lost without you" in a moment that gives me goosebumps every time.

  Simply put, Pachinko is a triumph of emotional beauty, soaring melodies, and intelligent lyrics in a whimsical and sometimes goofy but always heartfelt package and is my unequivocal album of the year.

• 

  Best albums of 2025

  spiros