Person L
The Positives
Academy Fight Song
By Al Kaufman
Kenneth Vasoli left the heavily influential The Starting Line because he found their pop-punk sound to be too limiting. With Person L, he clearly does not have that problem. There is still some of that pop-punk sound on The Positives, most notably on "Untitled," but mostly this second Person L CD is a chance for Vasoli and company to spread out and evolve.
Opening track "Hole In the Wall" demonstrates the desire for musical expansion immediately. Starting as a slow guitar-powered ballad, the song gradually swells into bombastic, psychedelic fury. It's something that Radiohead or Flaming Lips would be proud of.
Then there's the back-to-back "Goodness Gracious" and "New Sensation." They both have a funky, garage band sound that combine The Strokes with Lenny Kravitz. It's a sound that works the best for the band.
Those that fare less well are their trippy, blissed-out ballads, such as "Stay Calm" or "I Sing the Body Electric," two songs (the latter with a never-ending instrumental jam) that would no doubt be inspirational on 'shrooms, but not sober.
With The Positives, Person L touches on multiple genres while managing a certain cohesion that keeps the CD interesting, if not always engaging. But at the very least, they may have come up with a new sound; trip post-punk.
Person L play with John Nolan (of Taking Back Sunday) and Brian Bonz at The Drunken Unicorn on Tuesday, December 8. $8/$10 door. Get tickets here.
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