Big Love Blanket. Personal Trainer

Superlatives, hypes, startlingly surprised. The words already shared with the world by colleagues with bigger platforms to publish on all can be filed under the aforementioned words. That leaves me with some shoes to fill.

You can find the work of Willem Smit and Ruben van Weegbree, as they always play in the same bands, on this blog since the mini album of Palio Superspeed Donkey in the earlier 2010s. So far, all his bands falter when there's a chance of a bigger recognition, was my impression. After pulling the plug out of Canshaker Pi in the week before the lockdown. (Is it safe to go or not?, I was already seriously wondering at the time. Luckily I did.) It made me ask the question to myself, what's next?

During the pandemic the first singles of Personal Trainer were released and a buzz started. The buzz has turned into the sound of a swarm. Big Love Blanket is Personal Trainer's debut album and yes, it's good. But is it as good as the music press lets the world believe? I still haven't made my mind up to be honest.

Yes, Big Love Blanket is good. There's no doubt there. If only, because it is so successfully diverse. Willem Smit c.s. show several sides to themselves and they all work. That in itself is a feat of grand proportions. The album is also full of musical surprises and that works enormously in its favour. In that sense it leaves all Willem Smit's previous bands behind, although the final Canshaker Pi album holds some hints at what is presented in 2022. In that sense it could have been a Canshaker Pi album.

That may make Big Love Blanket a coming of age album. This is the first album where Willem Smit is no longer somewhere in between a boy and a man. He's still young, of course, but full of experience in writing, playing, touring and recording. This experience certainly shows on this album. Everything is a little more complex, in the way that there seems to be more of an ear for the arranging and the dynamics. Less is more is a principle that is used, while the more is always added value here.

What remains is the alternative rock of the past. Personal Trainer has seen many a band race by it in the past three years and certainly feels the hot breath of Rotterdam's Tramhaus, NL's most hyped band these days, as if we are the U.K., in its neck. With Big Love Blanket it leaves the competition behind and remains the alternative rock band of this country. With ease even.

Whether Big Love Blanket is a five star album is something I still can't tell. What I can state at this point in time is that Personal Trainer seems to be doing a lot of things very right on its debut album. Not in the least by surprising me in many of the songs, as they are different, while others do sound familiar and good. Big Love Blanket is on a good track to become a special album to me. And that is an "extra voordeel", I'd say.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Big Love Blanket here:

https://personaltrainer.bandcamp.com/album/big-love-blanket