by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Ten years after the release of their debut album, Pagan Day, Montreal’s PYPY are making their triumphant return. While it might have seemed entirely possible that the project was a “one and done” sonic collision, their kinetic energy proves too strong to derail, warped and augmenting post-punk in a way that feels genuinely exciting. PYPY are here to get freaky, letting their tightly coiled grooves wrap and coil in ultra tight loops, jittering between tangled motorik pulses and an explosive garage punk exuberance. It’s “get down” music in the best of ways, a nervy collaboration between members of CPC Gangbangs, Duchess Says, and Red Mass. A decade removed from their debut, the band will release Sacred Times, their (very) long awaited follow up on October 18th via Goner Records (Split System, Bloodshot Bill, Alien Nosejob), an album entrenched in mesmerizing rhythms and careening psych noise.
“Lonely Striped Sock,” the album’s lead single, unravels with a post-disco reverence, the song bouncing on funky ESG indebted bass, sparse but undeniably tight drums, and guitars that use the framework to peel the paint from the walls. Switching between a warped attack and a stutter reminiscent of a shot car engine, the song rides its own anthemic groove, full of spiky hooks and waves of stampeding fills. Annie-Claude Deschênes' (Duchess Says) vocals give the song a massive dose of character, bouncing in time together with the rubbery bass to create an irreverent spark, lamenting being stuck in a rut, seemingly without much of a desire to ascend it. When the song reaches it’s climax, Roy Vucino’s (Red Mass, CPC Gangbangs) guitar comes unglued, bursting from the the seams into a wah splattered splendor.