After four full length releases and almost 20 years, PVT trade in some of their post-rock roots in favor of a dark electronic sound on New Spirit. While the album still acknowledges the band’s experimental rock background, it draws influence from multiple electronic music genres, namely techno and drum and bass. New Spirit is more reserved than its counterparts from the Australian trio’s noisier days, but what it loses in sound it gains in melodic discernment. New Spirit features chunky basslines, fuzzy synth interludes, gloomy reverb, and frequent percussive interjections all integrated by auto tuned vocals throughout its entirety. The outfit’s frontman, Richard Pike, forms the album’s hazy, mid-range vocals into tribal calls inspired by Australian natives.
Filled with perverse tension throughout, New Spirit never quite apexes; instead, the album fades into a gritty plateau, a nine-minute expedition entitled “Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend,” and ultimately dissolves away. The centerpiece track is packed with machinelike vocals and metallic percussion, pulling together sounds from the album’s build up.
Recommended If You Like: Yeasayer, Son Lux, Cults
Recommended Tracks: 7 (Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend), 8 (Kangaroo)
Do Not Play: None
Written by Madeline Connor on 04/19/2017
