P.E.T. - pet sounds for electro-gen

Earlier mentioned elitism the British public appear to claim the right to allowing them to ignore most of the acts coming from outside of the English speaking world should be augmented by fairness of the local public who are also tough on domestic artists: Goldfrapp, Beverly Knight [although doing a female Robbie Williams-esque album is hardly going to improve her standing) or Jamelia are not having an easy ride to stardom.

Still, music made outside this green and pleasant island can be often better than what is offered by ‘the cradle of pop music’: there is no need to look way back to Kraftwerk or ABBA, there are plenty of current examples such as The Hype, The Concretes, Rasmus, even Bjork, enough to inform all interested that there is no more a pop dominant country.

It is time to add to this list P.E.T.'s debut album ‘Player One Ready’ and you'll be astonished with the mix of sounds, genres and influences that spread from The Beatles to Daft Punk, retro and futristique. Or perhaps you'll hook into a T-Rex theme or a flavour of 70s glam rockers The Sweet or a new relish of the electro-pop.

All these classic influences can’t obscure catchy, infectious proper pop music by a genuine music lover. Berlin based song-writing guru Andre Abshagen is not here for fame: “I've always been a huge fan of real pop music from the 70s - I miss those songs and with ‘Player One Ready’ I've tried to make a serious pop album.”

It’s enough to hear the current single ‘Snooze’, as well as the previous one [‘Yes No Yes’], to realise that this musical concoction is as accessible as is post-electronicly traumatic. Pop element is counterbalanced with details that keep it fresh even after repeated spins; a rarity these days, for sure.

Abshagen’s musical beckground is being one half of German experimental electro duo Dauerfisch that based its songs on samples. This time the mainman decided to go for something different - traditional song writing on guitar. Later on he added Moogs, drums, percussion and vocals (by Monika Martin). The lyrics are in English because “English language is the language of pop,” he explains, citing Lennon and David Bowie as his favourite writers.

‘Player One Ready’ offers ten tracks of heartening and life-affirming quality electro-pop. It is easy to hear how P.E.T. can become you pet-sound this summer.

8/10