Modernism

Whatever they do, whenever they do it, Perennial is quick, kinetic, sharp. Their
bruising, bombastic sets have come and gone before you know it: all over but the sweating. A 20-minute marathon, on stage and in wax. On Modernism, the New England mod trio’s newest full-length album, that lightning-strike chic is devoted to a pocket-symphony rave-up — a 10-song parquet session built from all the keenest bits of The Who, The Blood Brothers, Otis Redding, Stereolab, MC5, Wilson Pickett. Op art to dance to. Mellotron loops bracket electric feedback squalls; freakbeat riffs tangle up beneath Stax/Volt hooks. The band’s deep, eccentric record collections, turned into a 1,200 second action painting.