Today is one of those days when I love what I do. I mean, to write about music all day long and listen to some of the most interesting and risk-taking indie artists – hell yeah. My new favorite song and soon-to-be-yours is the instrumental track, “The Fountain”. I know what you’re thinking, instrumental, really? Yes, really. Leave it to an indie rock band from Nashville to bottle up the sounds from the 80s synth and springboard it into the present. Just when you think you’ve had your fill of ‘sounds like everything else out there’ music, a band like Pet Envy deals out a song called “The Fountain” and the pop/indie rock world seems like it’s on the right path again.
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Doused with energized light. “The Fountain” curves and paves itself across a colorful soundscape. Pet Envy succeeds at creating a sound that is both full of crescendos and impacts, and solid transitions. Even though there are no words, you can almost feel the different stanzas and breakouts as the song flows along the current. Ambient, with a shred of quirky flair, the song can at times feel like a knife tearing into the air, and other times, what spills out is a flower bed of posies and peonies. I’m reminded of the 80s Calvin Klein commercials or some of the avant-garde Gucci commercials as of late – there’s a vibe, a scene that Pet Envy creates in the “Fountain”. It bleeds a certain tone of joy, meshed with a bundle of fierce awareness or enlightenment. It’s not bombastic in the sense that it’s heavy metal or rock, still I found myself grooving and strutting. “The Fountain” tattooed itself on my brain.
“The Fountain” communicates that there is love and animation behind every door. And, through each person and interpersonal relationship we are bound by exuberance and optimism. Even when the beats are lower and ramping up to bounce back, Pet Envy releases the pent-up emotions with determination and care. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish in electronica or synth – otherwise you’d see a lot more wannabe creators pressing a few buttons on a computer and calling it a day. Pet Envy’s synergy in the sound is tangible and humanist. A magic transpired in “The Fountain”. You just don’t hear what they are creating. Their instincts really pay off on this one. I could also easily imagine this song being played – preferably at a sweaty club. That just makes it all the more real. When the beat drops, there is a sticky wetness that grabs you.
Pet Envy collaborated with Christian Luthi (Luthi) on “The Fountain”. Previous Pet Envy releases include “Ghost Child”, “Swords” and “Avalon”. Making up the band are Shelbi Albert, Jake Diggity, Matthew Singler and Jordan Klatt. “The Fountain” is genre-bending in many ways, but it impressed me most for landing in the pop/indie electronic realm. Fans of The Killers, Depeche Mode, Semisonic, Duran Duran and Gorillaz should take a spin. “Fountain” just might be their new savored hit single.
Jodi Marxbury