If you missed this New England art-punk trio’s 2022 release In The Midnight Hour, I pity you as I would the village idiot. Because it was quite simply one of the most explosive, dynamic and original albums of that year (or any other).
Now, in keeping with their name, Perennial are back — sadly, not with a full new album, but with an EP that reworks a handful of songs from their 2017 debut release. But whatever; it’s still the best way to spend nine minutes with your pants on — assuming you don’t rip them off in a frenzy and wave them over your head as you stage a one-man mosh pit in your living room. And come to think of it, nine minutes ain’t gonna get the job done: It’ll be more like nine minutes multiplied by however many times you hit repeat on this instantly addictive pharmaceutical-grade dose of pure electro-shock intensity and hyperspeed frenzy, all of which has clearly been forumlated to drill straight into your lizard brain and make you do crazy things. Me, I’ve been pounding that button like one of brain-wired lab rat after another dopamine hit, and I’m just warming up. This is the only beat that really matters.
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nine minutes of avant-garde punk modernism. A high-fidelity, “studio-as-instrument” reworking of five songs from Perennial‘s debut album The Symmetry of Autumn Leaves.
Perennial are an art-punk three-piece from New England. Featuring Chelsey Hahn on electric organ, Chad Jewett on guitar and Wil Mulhern on drums, the band’s sound is a kinetic collage of ’60s soul, post-bop jazz, ’90s post-hardcore and British Invasion garage rock. Their live sets are quick, sharp, and ferocious — 20-minute bursts of energy, with all three members in constant, whirling motion.”
