I adore albums that keep you on your feet with surprises. That’s precisely why Pavement’s adventurous Wowee Zowee and The Beatles’ multifarious White Album are my favourite records by said groups—you have no idea what musical twist and turn is going to strike you next. What’s even more impressive is how impressive such diverse songwriting is. The range of genres that are covered build a kaleidoscopic picture of sonic extremes, impressive musicianship and an unforgettable listening experience. Personal Trainer’s latest bombastic record, Still Willing, embodies the same energetic spirit that defines those classic dynamic albums.
The project is essentially the sole work of Amsterdam’s Willem Smit. Aside from his producer and collaborator Casper van der Lans in the studio and playing with a live band, all of the bustling arrangements and springy melodies are his. This is a glimpse into his mind: an explosion of exuberance. Underscoring it are teeny-tiny motifs that make your ears perk up on repeated listens and plenty of playful wordplay. Naturally, Smit prioritises wowing his listeners: “I like to be taken by surprise like that on a record, to be kind of thrown around.” The new record follows his 2022 debut, Big Love Blanket, a DIY-pop monolith spiritually matching the energy of LCD Soundsystem, The Go! Team and They Might Be Giants. Like these groups, there’s the joyous blasts of guitars, blippy electronics, shouty choruses and breather ballads, but they’re distilled into a package that can only carry Smit’s fingerprints. Still Willing continues this trend and it's so incredibly good.
Smit’s variegated dance-punk is in full gear on this release and that’s best exemplified by the opener, ‘Upper Ferntree Gully’. A seven-minute epic playing out into multiple suites, the title is a nod to the Australian birthplace of his mother (the song opens with a recording of her voice) and the listener is seamlessly jostled into several mixed emotions: alternative rock of the pensive, propulsive and boisterous variety. I don’t mean to bring it back to Pavement again, but it truly sounds like a definitive summation of what made their effortless, at times lackadaisical but poetic indie rock so life-affirming. Well, here’s Smit basically giving a brief history of their sound both so precisely and nonchalantly because he is that talented. It’s a power pop spectacle and only the first track.
Where Still Willing shines is during its entire duration, you have no idea what feeling Smit is going to bring out of you next—that’s the entertaining element of surprise at play. The jolly piano-heavy ‘I Can Be Your Personal Trainer’ rocks like a lullaby and is perhaps Smit aware of the musical touchstones he graces: “Knock the references out of me”, he sings. Lead single ‘Round’ is a jangly bubblegum power pop tune that sounds like Teenage Fanclub at their apex. When Smit reveals writing such honeyed harmonies is uncharted territory for him, though, you’d be hard-pressed to believe him. The blindingly optimistic sunshine of ‘90s feel-good indie rock shines on this one. Smit stretches his musical muscles further by leaning into vulnerability in ‘New Bad Feeling’ and the titular ‘Still Willing’, the latter notably exploring disillusion as life goes on: “The boys are drifting off in different directions / But I remain / Making waves”. The amateurishly recorded, tinny guitar line underpinning Smit’s distant delivery extends this gut-wrenching situation.
Letting this record play out, the only thing you know is coming next is some standout sound that’ll galvanise you to keep on listening. Many contributors performed on the record, most from local Amsterdam bands such as Hessels, The Klittens and Canshaker Pi (who scored themselves production from Stephen Malkmus for their debut LP—the Pavement comparison keeps on writing itself). Even then, Smit feels like he’s confidently calling the shots: Throwing everything he’s got against the wall, sprinkling some surprises in there and hoping you listen. That’s all he hopes for with this album: “It would be awesome if people like it and buy the record, so that I can make another one.” What’s least surprising is how that’ll be true—judging by the vigour of Still Willing, Smit is here to play the long game.
Still Willing is available to listen to now on all major music platforms.