They’re how old?! It’s a know factor that some bands manage to put all their energy into their debut record, and it’s fantastic, but then give nothing else that amazing, I give you, the Strokes. But no matter what scenario we have with Be Your Own PET, you just cannot be anything but impressed at how they’ve perfectly balanced their sound between youthful energy and a wonderfully unique and original sound. Driving rhythm sections, a crunchy, in your face guitar sound and a voice to bring men to their knees, and smiles to girl’s faces, finally, we have a female-fronted rock band where the fact that they are female-fronted is irrelevant. And it works.
This album is a delicious, raunchy, vigorous collection of songs that stays enjoyable from beginning to end. Right from the word go, the fantastic ‘Thresher’s flail’ grabs your attention with a ever-building drum beat, and a guitar sound that tells you your going to love this. It literally shouts in your face to submission, but it’s a pleasurable one. What’s wonderful about this record is just how engaging it is. You actually feel all the energy and passion these 19 year olds are thrashing out through their music, and there’s nothing you can do about it except love it. ‘Bunk Trunk Skunk’ embodies all that emotion in a wonderful one and a half minute explosion, reminiscing in the lands of post-punk and the fantastic shouting of Jemina Pearl and she feels desperate to let you know that “I’m an independent mother***er!”.
Yes, the lyrics and sound of it all does feel very “late-teenager”, but the thing is, that is just what these kids are. Be Your Own PET do teenage issues honestly, they are there, giving a s**t, and better than most of the young adults who write in the style of a teenager because, it isn’t real. These kids are simply making the music they want to hear, full of passion and energy. The fantastic ‘We Will Vacation, You Can Be My Parasol’ is a brilliant example of their excellent songsmanship with a hypnotic riff, an over powering bass line and almost a ‘Hives’ feel to it all, but in a way only they can.
Bizarrely though, latest single ‘Adventure’ is both the best and worst moment of this album because, although it is a superb song and probably their best example of the wonderful pop hooks they have to offer in this album, it just does not fit on this record. It might be the tracklisting, but when listening to this album for the first time, I instantly noticed that ‘Adventure’ just simply didn’t sit well with the previous four excellent, fast-paced tracks. And then, when ‘Fuuuuuun’ comes in, it’s as if nothing happened as it rolls back into the same enjoyable cacophony of punk-rock and pop hits. Whether this was the work of the record company or not, I do not know, but it seems a shame that an otherwise excellent song demises in quality because of its position.
What you do really notice though is that every instrument in BYOP gets its time to shine and all work to the best of the band’s ability but at the same time all coming together to make these songs so, so good. Wonderful drum rolls, hypnotic bass lines, fantastic punky guitar riffs and that voice! My God! Pearl’s voice just sounds so sexy that it gives the already fantastic instrumental side of the band a whole new edge. It gives post-punk a wonderfully approachable yet intelligent sound and makes the whole experience all the more satisfying. Finale ‘OUCH’ wonderfully brings together everything we’ve had in the past 14 tracks and an excellent punk-pop closure which is almost touching.
So there it is. Forget all the NME bands who get hyped up for absolutely nothing, Be Your Own PET are the real deal and deliver the goods without fail. Seems a shame that once again the American’s have beaten us to our own game, but that is a strict matter of opinion. For the half an hour runtime, this album delights, surprises, dances and tries to jump out of the CD player in a fit of energy all in one go, but it never disappoints.
