Perennial - Modernism

Whatever they do, whenever they do it, Perennial is quick, kinetic, sharp. 

Their bruising, bombastic sets have come and gone before you know it: all over but the sweating. A 20-minute marathon, on stage and in wax. On Modernism, the New England mod trio’s full-length album, that lightning-strike chic is devoted to a pocket-symphony rave-up — a 10-song parquet session built from all the keenest bits of The Who, The Blood Brothers, Otis Redding, Stereolab, MC5, Wilson Pickett. 

Mellotron loops bracket electric feedback squalls; freakbeat riffs tangle up beneath Stax/Volt hooks. The band’s deep, eccentric record collections, turned into a 1,200 second action painting. 

Formed in 2015 in Connecticut, Perennial is Chad Jewett (electric guitar and vocals),Chelsey Hahn (electric organ and vocals), and Ceej Wolf (drums). Focusing on both unforgettable live shows — frenetic, joyful dance-punk rites of spring — and studio-as-instrument modernist recordings, the band has built a cult of dedicated international aficionados, one sticky-humid basement show at a time. Touring tirelessly, they honed their Motown-via-Dischord sound to a keen, glossy point. With their long time producer Chris Teti (The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die), Perennial has added layer after layer to their sharp mod collage: free jazz, ambient electronica, big beat, dub, Musique concrète, all within explosive 90-second sprints. 

Modernism is their best yet. The hooks pile high and stick fast atop dance floor strata of fuzz bass, tambourine, and Vox Continental organ jabs. Taking its cue from the tight yet expansive examples of The Who’s A Quick One and The Jam’s Sound Affects, Modernism marries the experimental to the ecstatic, the impressionistic to the incendiary.