_{Text: Hanna de Vries}

Today, Personal Trainer, a project from Canshaker Pi’s Willem Smit, releases a brand new 10” EP. Personal Trainer is one big group project which makes room for experimenting, and we can clearly hear that on the 5 track counting EP. There’s guitar pedals and new sounds on every single one of those track. Their sound is busy and energetic but very well produced and definitely not overly busy.

As Smit is probably not the best singer out there, it speaks for itself that the production of the EP is mainly focussed on the instrumentation. It’s very normal for music to clash a little bit within the genre in which Personal Trainer usually operates, however, this EP feels very tight. Everything, from the cowbells on ‘Fiddlefunk’ to the police sirens on ‘Crops’ feels thought out and put in the right place. Sometimes, their new sound resembles what Blur used to make. The EP is packed with new and interesting material, yet it remains a nice ‘easy listen’. The record might not be able to sweet everyone of their metaphorical barstools, but it is able to create a nice and pleasant ambiance when played over and over again. 

Holm Front Records