post-punk has been in a big revival swing for a few years, which is great, since i play in a post-punk band, but it’s fun to hear different angles on it, and PRIVATE LIVES have a pretty good one — this record has plenty of the angular, tinny guitar you expect to hear in a post-punk band, but, in a fun twist, they combine that with plenty of big, fat drum, 60s girl group and garage rock sounds.
normally, when you see “post-punk” and “garage” in the same band description, the latter refers to the recording quality more than the songwriting, but PRIVATE LIVES do a pretty great job mashing up the best of greasy-haired, leather-jacketed cool kids with the nervy staccato energy. they also understand what it is that post-punk bands are supposed to do, the entire record clocks in at twenty-seven minutes long, less than three minutes per song.