Personal Trainer

The Dutch collective on the launch pad Personal Trainer announces the new album “Still Willing”, out on August 2nd on Bella Union and already available for pre-order. After the popular first single “Intangible”, the band has shared the video for the second, “Round”.

Commenting on the track, frontman Willem Smit said: “Round was one of the last songs to make it onto the album. I had already planned most of the album, but I felt that it needed something that in Dutch I would call “een lekker nummertje”, meaning something between “a banger” and “a tasty little song”. Or something like that. I tend to always want one like that on my records.”

If you like cinematic, moody and inspirational pop music, Personal Trainer will fully satisfy you with their very complete second album. Essentially Willem Smit’s project (working with co-producer/collaborator Casper van der Lans) showed a flair for DIY indie-pop exuberance and experimentation with 2022 debut, “Big Love Blanket”.

Now, signed to Bella Union, Willem returns full of energy with “Still Willing”, a multifaceted album with brilliant contrasts and lively melodies, effusive arrangements and subliminal sounds, playful lyrics and self-reflection: in short, a pop album performed with dynamism, vitality and charm.

As Willem says, this is a record fueled by its own extremes: sometimes energetic and loud, sometimes quiet and thoughtful, always full of pleasant secrets. “When I listen to the records I make, the main thing I hope for is that every time something happens, you go, ‘Wow.’ I like being caught off guard like that on a record, tossed around.”

Witty, welcoming and melodic, “Still Willing” is the sound of an instinctive DIY pop musician who prefers down-to-earth exploration and intuition over pedantic premeditation. Willem’s initial intent was to record the album as if it were live, but he later realized that his chemistry with Casper would be lost, at least partially. “I felt like we had grown and built a language together. Usually we don’t have to say much to each other, but we understand each other well.”

“I write the songs and record most of the material, as a kind of skeleton, and then we record the drums together. This is the first step, most of the time. From there, we build. I don’t know much about compressors or weird effects. But Casper knows a lot about it and is really excited. If I want a part to work better, he says, “Oh, yeah, I have an idea for that.”

Recorded between home and “places where it doesn’t cost much to record”, the result is a DIY pop album full of ideas and colours. In addition to Lena Hessels and The Klittens, collaborators include drummer Kick Kluiving and (for half the songs) bassist Ruben van Weegberg, also Willem’s partner in the band Canshaker Pi, which counted Stephen Malkmus among their producers. Most of the percussion comes from Kilian Kayser, while the atmospheres are provided by Abel Tuinstra and Otto de Jong.

Willem is the epicenter of the band, formed during extemporaneous and exhilarating live shows with constantly changing members from various local bands. The live lineup has consolidated somewhat, but Willem still appreciates the contrast with his recorded work: “When I make a record, I’m the one who makes the decisions. But I can’t tell everyone exactly what to do every second when we’re on stage. There are shakers flying around or tools being thrown everywhere, so I don’t have the ability to control it. And that’s really exciting for me.”