Pet Symmetry love a pun. If you thought their name was great, you’ll dig their new record on a purely wordplay basis alone. ‘Pets Hounds’ is the debut record from the latest project from the ubiquitous Evan Weiss featuring members of Dowsing and Kittyhawk.
Opener ‘My Exhausted Month (Of May)‘ greets you with the familiar voice of Weiss lamenting that he “spent the last year motivating everyone else when I should’ve been motivating myself”. For a musician as consistently productive and consistently excellent as Weiss, the thought that he could ever be unmotivated seems ridiculous. What immediately strikes you about this record is how much it is a full ‘band’ record. This is not just the vehicle for Weiss’ vocal musings, Pet Symmetry are an insanely talented band.
‘Give Thanks (Get Lost)’ hits you with a huge wall of discordant noise and feedback that immediately feeds into some of the most catchy and upbeat octaves. Throughout ‘Pets Hounds’, Pet Symmetry consistently keep it interesting by switching things up like this. This. Song. Will. Not. Leave. Your. Head. The drumming is so good, keeping the tempo up whilst keeping it super interesting with Marcus Nuccio choice of fills. The song breaks into the classic ‘double-snare-woah-oh-ohs’ and, instead of being unbearably cheesy, Pet Symmetry manage to pull it off.
Bass-led ‘Class Action Force (Useless Tools)’ is a perfect rebuttal of sketchy police behaviour and it’s cool to see an important topic highlighted on such a positive sounding record. When the recurring bass line comes back in at the end of the song, you really feel it guiding the song and it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
There are moments of perfection on this record, like the build-up in ‘Use Your Illusion III (Knock-Knock-Knockin On Evan’s Door)’, which will make your heart soar. ‘Pets Hounds’ has been a long time coming for Pet Symmetry, but it is unlikely to leave anyone feeling let down – it more than delivers on the promise shown in Pet Symmetry’s earlier input. If you’re a fan of Dowsing, Kittyhawk or any of Evan Weiss’ other projects, it’s likely that you’ll get into this record. It sits beautifully in between so many genres that it’s hard to pin it down, but you’ll love it. Honestly.
CONOR MACKIE