Still Willing opens with “Upper Ferntree Gully,” a seven and three-quarter minute workout twice as long as most of the other nine tracks on Personal Trainer’s second album. A portmanteau piece, its most direct sections have the chug of vintage Pavement, some stabbing early Tame Impala guitar and chunks of Sonic Youth-like squall. Yo La Tengo also aren’t far.
Personal Trainer are based in Amsterdam, and fronted by the Australia-born Willem Smit. As "Upper Ferntree Gully" takes its name from a suburb of Melbourne, the song presumably nods to his past. Equally probable is the surmise that the music Smit is making draws from the bands and records he’s keen on. Personal Trainer have a fluid line-up and are a six or seven-piece outfit when seen live. Casper van der Lans is his main collaborator. This, though, is Smit’s vehicle.
Overall, Pavement and their angular art-rock are Still Willing’s main benchmarks. The album works best when it’s taken on a track-by-track basis. “Round” is a chugging indie-pop belter with a big chorus. “Intangible” dives into a Field Music-like art-funk. Smit has a fondness for derailing the flow of his songs with explosive climaxes – they do not follow their own path. It’s akin to being over the speed limit while driving along a side road, repeatedly hitting speed bumps, suddenly stamping on the brakes and then zooming off again. Once the ear becomes attuned to the breathlessness and unpredictably this is revealed, at its core, to be a pop album.
It also takes a while to get used to the very dry production and the tendency to foreground Smit’s voice. A warmer approach in the studio would go a long way. Nonetheless the adroit Still Willing is likeable, and would be more so if the jumpiness was dialled down.
