Personal Trainer has been on my radar for a while, now, and they have been working hard on their populairity. The long awaited debut album was released last Friday and let me tell you, this one is worth your time. The call themselves more a collective than a band, which is fine with me, because I am already liking what I am hearing.
The band is lead by Willem Smit, who you might know from the band Canshaker Pi. If you have not heard of this band before, I will surely discuss them some time on this blog, just keep following me and find out. Or you can always find them on Spotify and listen. Personal Trainer Personal Trainer is in line with Canshaker Pi's work, but more fun and very catchy.
Some songs really remind me of Mozes and The Firstborn, I don't know if they really took them as an example, but they do sound a bit similar. I think they also took De Staat as an example, Personal Trainer's "Key of Ego" reminds me a lot of De Staat's "Who's Gonna Be The GOAT?" Which actually came out in October, all-though they have been playing it live a summer.
The first song, the title track "Big Love Blanket" starts with an a cappella intro and slowly builds to the climax being the second song "The Lazer. A daring intro of an album. The Lazer then hits the road running, a nice indie track that really reminded me one of Mozes and the Firstborn songs. This is a really cool song and this is only the second track on the album. This is promising for the rest of the album.
The thirds song " Rug Busters" brings us more talk singing? I don't know how to explain it, but it is something I know from Dolly Parton, who has many a country song where she talks to us, think of Apple Jack. Well Personal Trainer does their thing with it and nailed it. I really like how divers this album is. It is really refreshing.
Every album has that one song that just does not hit like the others, that is what "Milk" is to me. i just don't get is, don't know where they wanted to go with this song. This will be the only criticism you will find in this review of ""Big Love Blanket". The rest of the album is, very danceable, a nice mix of screaming guitars, heavy base and rythmic drums. It also has more subtle nudges, like harmonica, something that sounds like a flute, and various other instruments. It give the music more dynamic feel. I really like the name of the the last song, it is so very Dutch, I think it is very funny, because I think their aim is more to become famous one island over, in the UK. Like the succes Pip Blom booked in the UK. On a side note the piano in this song, truly hilarious!
I am very impressed by this album, it cheered me up, and I am glad I get to see this band live soon. As they will be the support act for De Staat, when they play in Hedon, Zwolle. I am very curious what their live performance will be like.
Have you heard the album yet? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
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