Two albums into their career, it is already apparent that Personal Trainer thrive upon throwing frequent curveballs into the equation. Their debut, 2022’s ‘Big Love Blanket’, contained a multitude of joyous, brief songs that were ideal for their greatest champion, 6Music’s Marc Riley, to slot into any small gap preceding the news headlines. Following this in December 2023 with a predominantly minor-key nine-minute single, ‘The Feeling’, it was clear that this is a band for whom pursuing a Christmas number one single is not high on the agenda.
Their second album, ‘Still Willing’, begins with the nearly eight-minute ‘Upper Ferntree Gully’, its title and length suggesting a prog epic. The title nods to Willem Smit’s mother’s birthplace in Australia and starts with a recording of her voice. Its shifts from twinkling electronics, through solid riffs to an absolute noise explosion suggest a vastly different album from its predecessor. However, as should be abundantly clear, the world of Smit and his band is never predictable so this opening gives a misleading impression of what is to follow during the remaining nine songs. The second track, ‘I Can Be Your Personal Trainer’ is a short, relaxed pop tune with a country-rock vibe decorated with piano, synths and sax. Ironically, on a song that mentions “learning to drive so I’ll never have to use the pavement again”, there is a return to the Pavement echoes that do reverberate through their sound but delivered with a freshness and verve that match the days when Malkmus and his men were a totally new band.
‘Cyan’ is especially playful and self-reflexive with its line, “did you ever have a doubt / about your record coming out”, bolstered by backing vocals from alt-pop singer, Lena Hassels, and Nick Bolland’s sax.
‘Round’ sees a return to the rousing pop songs in which they specialise with understated verses bolstered by the occasional random shout followed by buoyant choruses and an unexpected bit of scratching. The other piece of absolute pop gold is ‘Intangible’ with its main hook coming from the instrumental fanfare turned up to eleven which starts the song and recurs at intervals. In between, the song is dotted with funky guitar.
‘New Bad Feeling’ flits between styles and works the quiet/loud dynamic effectively. ‘Testing The Alarm’ moves from Smit’s vulnerable hushed vocals as he notes “the reflection of our eyes” before the keyboards progressively pick up velocity to match his increasingly manic screams and guitar feedback. In contrast, the title track is the album’s least convincing track and rather underwhelming.
After that temporary lull, ‘You Better Start Scrubbing’ is on firmer territory matching jittery, scratchy guitar to a shout-along chorus with guest vocals from three members of Dutch band, The Klittens. The album ends on a musical high with ‘What Am I Supposed To Say About People and Their Ways’. Smit eloquently sets out the difficulty of describing situations while acknowledging “I do find comfort in the flight of my imagination” in a song with hyperactive musical stylings, from its atmospheric synth opening through Spanish guitar, heavy riffs and emotively droning keyboards.
While I did not exactly damn ‘Big Love Blanket’ with faint praise in my review upon its release, I had not appreciated just how fresh those songs would sound two years on after repeated listening. I would not make that mistake again. It is clear that ‘Still Willing’ contains the pop chops to make it instantly appealing, while displaying a level of depth and imagination to be worthy of regular revisits.
Personal Trainer: Still Willing – Out 2nd August 2024 (Bella Union)
Personal Trainer – Round (official video) (youtube.com)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
