ALBUM REVIEW: Intermittent Fast Living (Xtra Mile Recordings)
Pet Needs are a four-piece indie-punk band from Colchester in Essex formed in the late ‘teens by brothers Johnny and George Marriott, and you could say they’re prolific, as this is their third album in four years.
Their debut album Fractured Party Music made quite an impression on its release in March 2021 (read our review here), and it was followed by the more experimental Primetime Entertainment in September 2022.
Now, not 18 months later, they’re back with album number three, Intermittent Fast Living, which is the sound of a band enjoying a taste of success, pausing for a moment and trying to explain how it’s changed their lives.
It’s about living the rock’n’roll lifestyle they dreamed of, going from smalltown bar gigs to touring the world, while trying to balance normal family life when they return home. And it’s their best album yet.
With the help of bandmates Jack (drums) and Ryan (bass), the brothers Marriott hurtle through 11 songs about love and loss, and the trials and tribulations of being in a band.
Intermittent Fast Living was recorded in just two weeks with producer George Perks (Enter Shikari, You Me At Six, Mogwai, Skindred), and it’s a record which sounds like it’s in a hurry to get its message across.
After stream of consciousness spoken-word opener How Are You? the songs come thick and fast, bringing us up to date with the Pet Needs story so far.
We get straight down to business with Separation Anxiety, an upbeat subverted love song which recalls noughties indie-rockers Art Brut. It’s about how quickly a wandering mind can run out control, as Johnny sings: “I love you so damn much, I love you even more than our dog does – woof woof!”
Lucid is another love song, about falling for someone just as weird as yourself, and being “beautifully broken together”, while Fingernails will resonate with anyone who mentally catastrophises such everyday situations as going to the shops and missing a call from parents, asking: “Why oh why does my mind hate me?”
The Age That You Were has more than a hint of Frank Turner – who produced their first album – about it, while Self Restraint is a fast-paced banger about learning life lessons from a puppy!
Trip addresses the reality of life on the road for a moderately happening band, including a self-reminder to stay grateful for the fact it’s happening at all, instead of wishing you were in a sleeper bus instead of a self-driven van.
The Optimist is about having to snap out of negative mindspaces when the introvert inside is taking over, and Sleep When I’m Dead is a frantic song full of big punky riffs about a man with a restless mind who’s always in a hurry to move on the next thing.
A barrelling rhythm runs through The Burning Building, a rant about pay-to-play shows which concludes: “Call the fire brigade this needs to be stopped/They’re lying to you and they’re taking the lot/It’s a tough old business and it takes a while to learn/To keep your wits about you and try not to get burned.”
Change of pace
Much of the album replicates the energy and intensity of their live shows, but the closing track, Buried Together, brings a complete change of pace, and is possibly the best song Pet Needs have written so far.
It tells the story of 50-years-married Albert and June, a couple who are nearing the end of their lives and are at peace with the fate which seems to be around the corner.
It moves from exchanging anniversary cards between their hospital beds to being at home a year later, after deciding they weren’t ready to give up their simple but charmed life just yet. It shows enormous prescience for ones so young, and proves they’re so much more than an average punk band. 9/10.
