Personal Trainer Announce 'Human Assholes' LP out 9/4 via Bella Union | Share "Punch Drunk Love" Single + Video

Personal Trainer Announce New Album Human Assholes  out September 4 via Bella Union Human Assholes album pre-order link “ripe with casually confident songwriting that bursts with spirit and enthusiasm.” — Pitchfork “Personal Trainer sounds tailor-made for musing in a coffee shop on a summertime afternoon while daydreaming of shapes in clouds of vape smoke and falling in love with anyone who makes eye contact.” — NYLON “a woozily woven, delightfully absurd tapestry.” — UPROXX Share First Single + Video: "Punch Drunk Love"

Credit: Sophie Koterus Korting  Dutch collective Personal Trainer today announce their new album Human Assholes due out September 4 via Bella Union. The 15-track opus is the follow-up to the band’s critically acclaimed second album Still Willing that was released in Summer 2024. To accompany today’s announcement the band have shared the effortlessly charming first single “Punch Drunk Love” with an official video, a track which borrows its title from the Paul Thomas Anderson film of the same name. Frontman and songwriter Willem Smit says: “‘Punch Drunk Love’ reminds me of a very strong feeling of being in love, or at least being infatuated by someone, which can then lead to obsession. The band is joined on this song by Susanne Linssen of Hospital Bombers, one of my favourite Dutch bands, and (ex-member) Franti Maresova.”    Watch / Share “Punch Drunk Love” video There’s this funny Dutch phrase that goes “mijn ei kwijt kunnen”, which quite clumsily translates to “unloading my egg”; it more or less means having an environment or activity where all your feelings, creativity and energy can unshackle as you see fit. For the past 10 years, Willem Smit’s eggs found their baskets within Personal Trainer, the restlessly creative Dutch indie rock stalwarts who have gradually risen up from Amsterdam’s grassroots scenes to touring the world as part of the roster of UK label Bella Union.  Three years of non-stop touring brought Personal Trainer to a freeing realization: no song is ever final, and no show is ever the last. “I think this is where a large part of the band's spirit comes from.” One of the bigger decisions for Human Assholes was to make the acoustic guitar the starting point. And even more importantly, pen the songs in a physical room with the rest of the band instead of cutting and pasting stuff behind a screen. “Every take that a group of people does simultaneously is a moment that has just happened and is shared by a group of people: if accidents happen, or if things do or do not go off the rails, that is part of what is happening in that performance. You give up some control, but for me, the decision-making became that much easier.” “I have always looked at the role of music in my life with great enthusiasm,” Smit concludes. “But also in a quite down-to-earth way. It is my greatest passion, but it is also just music, and that is precisely why it is important to me. It is a kind of sandbox I can sit in whenever I want. I have always been able to express myself through it as an outlet, but never was it as evident to me as during this process. It really felt like a ‘safe haven’ to sink my teeth into for days, while everything else wasn't going so well.” Personal Trainer have announced news of UK & EU headline shows and festival appearances this Summer and Autumn including a performance at London’s Scala. All dates are listed here.

Human Assholes tracklisting: 1. Marvin’s Curtain Up 2. Scrambled Egg 3. Punch Drunk Love 4. Bone 5. Moping 6. Places! 7. The Burrows 8. Barely Guillaume 9. Hole 10. Human Assholes 11. Rim Shot / Event Horizon 12. Tempo 13. Tyres Skid 14. Object Permeance 15. Letter From A Scentless Realm Website | Instagram | X | Facebook | YouTube Apple Music | Spotify | Bandcamp