Perennial – In The Midnight Hour

  • Mark Cartwright posted
  • Reviews

Perennial

In The Midnight Hour - Self Released

Perennial in itself is quite a statement when it comes to your band name, to be everlasting or in a perpetual never ending state can be very tiring I would only imagine, but from a musical point of view I for one totally stand back in admiration of that statement alone.  From an Art Punk point of view Perennial are 100% fully committed to doing what punk should always do, to look for that thing that is always a step forward, yet to never forget the footprints that are left behind. The fact they are doing in this only their second album, what other bands might only dare to do, when the dust has settled and you just want to do everything for yourselves, Sandinista The Clash comes to mind as a marker, is not only brave but its Patti Smith or Gang of Four in its stature.  

All the reference points in the world still wouldn’t give you a hope in hell of navigating your way through In The Midnight Hour, but I can try, even if its just to make you take a listen (you won’t regret it), it simply doesn’t pick a point in space or time musically, it moreover moves through the cracks and fills the voids between genres, ‘The Skelton Dance’ takes poll place and sets off on a journey of rhythmic hardcore that Henry Rollins would be proud of then ends with some atmospheric synth, title track ‘In The Midnight Hour’ has a very similar beat, this could possibly be the only seamless transition on the album, or could it?, to be honest the only true cement that holds this less than 20 minute album together is the poetic licence that pops its head all along the watch tower during every song/idiom, moments of seaming normality are shattered as quickly as they arrive, ‘Lauren Bacall In Blue’ takes Jazz and slips it momentarily amongst a furious punk guitar sound, then fades away with a binary mess, ‘Tooth Plus Claw’ hangs on by its finger nails to being B-52’s in parts, but then falls off the cliff with pure aggression.

What certainly does stand out here, is the unmistakable sense that the music came first and this then dictated how the mood of the words unfolded within that structure, this works so well for most of the time, but there are occasions where your left feeling so far out of your comfort zone, that it becomes ever more clearer that this is definitely more of concept than an album, which is great, but don’t expect to be blown away all of the time, there are times of joy and times of interest, but there are also times that leave you scratching your ears.

Modern art should never be comfortable, enter Perennial with In The Midnight Hour.

Out on February 1st

You can Pre-order on all formats via BANDCAMP

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