Dutch heroes Personal Trainer have been bubbling around in the background as far back as 2018, when they released ‘The Industry’, but they truly bloomed into our collective consciousness with the 2022 masterpiece (and gloriously-titled) ‘Big Love Blanket’. Almost impossible to categorise or pigeon-hole, the album saw all seven (!!!) of the band’s members invited to explore their individual eclectic influences and, somehow, the myriad of musical styles melded into a cohesive and inspirationally unique whole. As well as a live release which captured some of the chaotic joy of the band’s stage show, 2023 also saw the band unleash standalone single ‘The Feeling’; clocking in at almost ten minutes, it serves as the culmination for all that has gone before with Personal Trainer and signposts a truly exciting musical future for the collective.
If you are unfamiliar with Pom Poko then their being named after an early-nineties animated film about Japanese racoon dogs might give you an early indication as to the weird world their music exists within. Describing themselves as “pure Norwegian punky sweetness” who make “noisy sugar-coated songs”, the Oslo band are a truly unique prospect. With this bill thrusting them alongside Personal Trainer, it will be a glorious opportunity to catch two entirely different bands who somehow co-exist within their own delightfully off-kilter realities. ‘Cheater’ was one of our favourite albums of 2021 and this week’s new single ‘Champion’ nods to the future of Pom Poko; feeling slightly less technicolour than the previous full-length, it floats along in a manner with elevates Ragnhild Fangel’s vocals to the front and centre, showcasing a truly unique and talented frontwoman.
Kicking off in Stoke on Friday, this jaunt brings together two acts who could push themselves in any direction as they continue to plough their own exciting furrows; tickets for all dates are available now from the usual outlets and the full tour itinerary is shown below: