Album of the Week: P.E. – Person

P.E. Person review Album of the Week

Sometimes getting a second opinion is important. Person is extremely Jeff’s shit. Julia said “Soft Dance” sounds like Lorde in three years. Carter dramatically turned and asked, “what is this?” P.E.’s debut is staggering, a 12-step guide to one big double-take. The New York quintet manufactures an abnormally distinct atmosphere; a future dystopian, bubbling experiment of collaborative contradictions. The band’s stunning mishmash of industrial, noise and dance music manages to contain unmistakable pop sensibilities, becoming an assemblage of irregular influence that one could call “punk.” But with singles like “Top Ticket” and “Pink Shiver” existing on the same record, it’s clear that P.E.’s first full-length deserves much more than a mere umbrella term. Person is a setting of its own; the not-so-far-off future that feels increasingly more plausible and maybe just a little too close. P.E.’s world is stark but colorful, brutalist yet surreal, and if you give in a little, the music will take you there.

P.E. is a bit of an accidental supergroup. In the summer of 2018, Bodega asked Pill and Eaters to open their record release. Both bands were a member short, so the two groups decided to collaborate on an improvisational set for the evening. The spontaneous format was proven a success and P.E. was born. Veronica Torres, Benjamin Jaffe and Jonathan Campolo of Pill join forces with Robert Jones and Jonathan Schenke of Eaters for a project that, with all its dark themes and grating tones, actually sounds like a pretty good time. “Sick sad fun!” reads their bonus tracks tape sleeve: a collection of live bits, b-sides and teasers for future tunes that prove P.E. really just hit record and went with it. And the end result fucking rules.

Person feels like the Magic School Bus and the play button is your permission slip. The variability of Person is superb and never sounds forced; the record is cohesive, but each song is completely it’s own. Maneuvering through the tracklisting is moving—each song is fully transportive. Cuts like “Entertainment” and “Shimmy” feel like checkpoints, breaches of the fourth wall that are not only aware, but notably disorienting.

The band allows the law of opposites to flow freely, creating a sharp divergent effect across the record. “Top Ticket” is jarring but danceable. “Soft Dance” is urgent yet relaxed. The chorus of “Pink Shiver” is both flighty and focused—the closest P.E. ever get to anthemic. Mid-record cuts “Vinaigrette” and “Dirty Plumage” toe the line of Person’s ability to be both palatable and harsh, moments where you may have to check what you’re listening to, or maybe even where you’re at. The record is a trip, one of the best of the year. P.E.’s forward-thinking approach to creating a dynamic experimental punk record is especially refreshing and their debut is a splintering excursion in top notch genre-play.

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