Human Assholes. Personal Trainer

Willem Smit can be found on this blog as member of Palio Superspeed Donkey, Canshaker Pi and with his latest band Personal Trainer. That band released its third album and it comes across as the album of a band/songwriter in transition. The youthful exuberance that came with the territory of being young, was left behind a little already on 'Still Willing' and is even harder to find on Human Assholes.

The guitar in some songs is left behind as a principle instrument and became more a part of the whole. Gone also are the bangers that are able to move venues from back to front and from upstairs to the floor. Enter songs to primarily listen to. That comes with a challenge in itself, as a more quiet song needs to be good, have something special, etc.

If I had to put a label to Human Assholes it would be a Belgian one. It wouldn't surprise me if bands like dEUS and Zita Swoon were an influence while writing the album. Which is just fine. Personal Trainer has enough quality to turn influences like that into its own universe. After the bit daft opening tune 'Marvin's Curtain Up', the album truly takes off with 'Scrambled Egg', the moment the album becomes interesting immediately. The post punk intro with a soft bite is left behind for a softer verse over a weird rhythm, that will probably take some concentration on the drummer's part.

The new approach is clear, as this song is not aimed at your feet but head. The guitar riffs are a bit out there as well, while the interlude, which turns out to be the end, has a Beatlesque feel despite being in a totally different musical idiom. 'Punch Drunk Love' has an identical pull and push form in it. The 1960s are extremely close, while at the same time no one would have released a song like this at the time. The start of the "Jesus" part could have been on a The Kinks song like 'Dead End Street' e.g.

Photo: Sophie Koterus Korting

What is a shame, is that the title song is really the worst song on the album. Musically it is not going anywhere and it is boring. That is compensated by a song like 'Bone'. I have the sense that this is the direction in which Willem Smit is wanting to develop himself musically. I hear the quality, but I fear an Arctic Monkeys development for future albums, where all exuberance is traded in for contemplation. What Personal Trainer does with Human Assholes is make me work a little harder to like the music. For now that is just fine.

Those remembering my review and later comments on Personal Trainer's first album, 'Big Love Blanket', might be surprised. In hindsight, that was clearly a case of having my ears screwed on wrong, as I soon after writing the review started to love the album and do so to this day. This did not happen with 'Still Willing'. Human Assholes may fare far better, as many of the songs intrigue me, with minor exceptions here and there. Just listen to a rich song like 'The Burrows' and you know this album has a chance to grow further. Time will tell. In the mean time this album will go into the cd tray for a while longer.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Human Assholes here:

https://personaltrainer.bandcamp.com/album/human-assholes