Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward

THE REVIEW

Like getting a water balloon or a pie in the face.

The new album by Be Your Own Pet indeed sounds like this, like a prank that can both amuse the younger listener and irritate the more touchy one.

Be Your Own Pet is not a serious band, but they seem to mean business: "Get Awkward" is released in America under Ecstatic Peace! (Thurston Moore’s label) and boasts a producer of the caliber of Steve McDonald, bassist of the legendary Redd Kross.

"Get Awkward" is a bit less sharp than their 2006 debut, although it is permeated by the same sense of freshness and lightness. Once again, the Nashville band focuses on fleeting, melodic hardcore punk tracks seasoned with silly lyrics; after all, the main target of their music is essentially to entertain the audience. Be Your Own Pet is famous for their high-energy live performances and this latest work indeed exudes energy from every pore. "Super Soaked" and "Food Fight!" are fast, shouted, short, and immediate, fully reflecting the band's style. Jemina Pearl’s voice is the ingredient that makes everything stand out and gives the group personality. "Becky" is instead suspended between a '60s pop verse that strongly recalls "The Loco-Motion" (a well-known song by Carole King brought to success by Little Eva in '62) and an irresistible garage-punk chorus; in "Creepy Crawl," the guys play at being melodic Distillers, losing a bit of their edge.

In the long run, however, the album can be somewhat banal and repetitive: fifteen tracks so homogeneous inevitably become tiresome. Then come head-turning pieces like "Zombie Graveyard Party!", which seems to pay homage to Misfits' horror punk but actually refers to the film "The Return Of The Living Dead", and "The Beast Within," the best of the bunch, which closes the album with various screams and guitar feedback.

In short, "Get Awkward" doesn’t fully convince, but it is nonetheless a pleasant and festive album that certainly puts you in a good mood.

Surely in a few years, few will remember Be Your Own Pet, but for now, I take pleasure in an album like this, sunny, well-played, and without overly ambitious pretensions.

A nice declared pastime.