ALBUM REVIEW: Intermittent Fast Living – Pet Needs

Essex rock band PET NEEDS have made a return with their third studio album Intermittent Fast Living. The band themselves consider this album to capture their way of living out their dreams as a band whilst also balancing out their own personal lives. Essentially, it captures every weird and sweet moment from their everyday lives and turns it into a song that can make you laugh, cry, dance, or maybe all three at the same time.

Opening things up is the intro track How Are You, a short-spoken word song accompanied by acoustic guitar that is reminiscent of early ED SHEERAN. On first listen, it might sound like a random jumble of words that simply moan about first world problems, yet listening closely you find it’s more a commentary of the overstimulation of everyday life, leading to a relatable anxiety of what the world might turn into.

PET NEEDS‘ lyrics can be described as tongue in cheek yet brutally honest, with clever little phrases and references heard throughout that you might only get if you’ve been in a similar scenario or headspace. Or if you just grew up in England – we’re looking at you Sleep When I’m Dead. As for the music itself, it’s a beautiful combination of punk, Brit-rock and rock ‘n’ roll, whilst also branching out into other styles like The Optimist that is influenced by 80s classic rock, or Burning Building that experiments with ska.

Throughout you can hear the influence of fellow British artists like THE WOMBATS and TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB in tracks like Separation Anxiety, Trip and Self Restraint, with the latter sounding like what would happen if THE WOMBATS did a cover of THE OFFSPRING’s The Kids Aren’t Alright. Seriously, listen to the melody and tell us it doesn’t remind you of that song. It’s nothing but happy rock beats with all too relatable lyrics that will make you want to dance and cry.

Perhaps one of the main highlights is a track that goes against everything we’ve heard so far, where you’ll just cry. Buried Together is a slow song covering the story about a lifelong romantic relationship between two people who are coming towards the end of their lives, making plans to be buried next to each other. You’ll find yourself sat down, firstly taken aback by the shift in tone, but then getting emotional. By the end, you know their love story and you find yourself heartbroken that it’s all coming to its inevitable end.

It’s a skill for any artist to make you feel both happy and heartbroken by the end of an album. Intermittent Fast Living is a fantastic record that everyone should listen to at some point to remind us that we are all human, this life will go in many directions, and it’s beautiful.

Rating: 9/10

Intermittent Fast Living is out now via Xtra Mile Recordings.

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