Review by: Thomas Strawbridge
Here is the second LP from Personality Cult, out on Dirtnap Records after their earlier effort on Drunken Sailor. That should give you a clue where this sits, but in case not this is power pop/punk. Straight down the line – treble up, and backing vocals to infinity.
It starts off hinting at sloppy melody, but that’s tone rather than style. Everything here is precise, accurate – maybe a little metronomic, but fucking hell it is TIGHT. There are riffs everywhere, hooks aplenty and all very Buzzcocks meets Beach Boys. The songs race by in the 2-3 minute mark, with the exception of the shorter Pressure Point at the punkier end of things, and longer 5:30 (not the track length) to close things out.
There are three or four absolute bangers on here and that’s just with my toe in the water for this kind of thing. And to be fair the rest of this is good value track by track, but ultimately I’m left wanting a bit more variation both in individual tracks and across the piece. It’s only 25 minutes but my attention has wandered every time. Still, this clearly a good record, and well worth checking out if power-pop is why you get up in the morning.