Person L - The positives

While The Starting Line are amking the news again, their (former?) frontman Kenneth Vasoli is releasing with his other band Person L a second album entitled 'The positives'. But don't necessarily think the young songwriter kept going on the pop-punk path with his new project as Person L have as much to do with The Starting Line than Angels & Airwaves do with Blink-182.

Indeed, Person L enabled Vasoli to let his need to experiment something else soar. More related to the indie and progressive genre, the band is such a departure from the singer's former act. On 'The positives', Person L seem to have grown and found their sound. The music appears more established and polished, probably thanks to Copeland's Aaron Marsh who produced the album. The entirely instrumental and acoustic intro 'Hole in the fence' is here to warn you: Person L's songs are not as accessible as you would expect. With its soaring riffs and crescendo tempo, the song has a post-rock feeling in the vein of late The Appleseed Cast's material. Following tracks are more straight-up rock songs ('Goodness gracious', 'Pleasure is all mine'), with jerky guitars and determined vocals. There's a major classic and garage rock influence on those tracks. The raw sound of the first album is kept, despite what sounds like a bigger effort to refine it. But the distinctive feature of the band is in their use of percussions. They actually have two drummers, which certainly contributes to the originality of their rythmics. They're not absolutely technical and the songs themselves are simple, but some of their compositions appear quite complex. In the same way, Kenny's vocals are nothing psychedelic but you can hear him pushing forward his range, from laid-down and airy ballads ('Stay calm'), rough growls ('Changed man') or energic screams ('New sensations'). The whole album is quite diverse but doesn't fall apart from too much dispersion.

There's no hit or particular highlight on 'The positives', which rather is a cohesive record, with songs completing each other well. I don't really adhere to their style, but Kenneth Vasoli's evolution is nonetheless remarkable. Not anymore confined in a genre that was, from his on words, too limited for his creativity, he seems to be perfectly blossomed in his new orientation. And those who have seen Person L live will agree with me. That doesn't mean the man won't come back to his first loves, but 'The positives' confirms the idea of Person L as an established band.

3.5/5

Recommanded if you like:
Radiohead, Gatsby's American Dream, The Gay Blades
Check also:
Weatherbox, Dr. Manhattan, John Nolan

www.myspace.com/personl
(Academy Fight Song, 2009)