PYPY - Sacred Times (Goner Records)

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Take 3/4 of iconic Montréal punk band Duchess Says (Annie Claude Deschênes, Philip Clement, Simon Besré) and add 1 part Montréal underground art-punk institution RED MASS (Roy Vucino) and combine for raucous under appreciated debut album.

Let sit 10 years.

Separate the mixture into 9 equally volatile portions, add a variety of textures and flavors.

Let rise before cooking.

One of MTL’s greatest underground secrets has been blown open by the good people at Goner Records with the release of PYPY’s sophmore album “Sacred Times”, 10 years after PYPY released their debut statement “Pagan Day”. That album was a bombastic psychedcelic punk exhalation celebrating the sum of all its parts, a distillation of its contributors, doused in gasoline and set on fire. It was loud, weird and fun… and it absolutely shredded. The track She’s Gone even being elevated into an 18 minute version for a Yves St-Laurent fashion show. At one point a YouTube video of the event in Los Angles showed the all star audience members, including former members of Nirvana rocking out to the track in tangent with Justin Beiber…a bit of a pinch me moment, and further proof that PYPY needs to be poured into all ears.

Sacred Times is a sexier, more streamlined proposition, and one that casts a wider range of psych punk hues into a genre that has no issues with recycling itself into infinity. Leave it to PYPY to create new custom colours and sound that are as unique as sonic fingerprints. Let’s not forget, in MTL anyways, these musicians have influenced a generation of bands, have many imitators and more importantly, are worthy ambassadors of the unrelenting creative energy of the Montréal music scene.

She’s Back slinks to and fro with an endlessly catchy refrain of “I don’t know where she went, but… she’s back”. The bass bounce , and horns screech. PyPY is back and she wants you to dance. Anni-Claude is possibly the best front person going in 2024. On Sacred Times, her delivery raises hairs and induces shivers. Any listeners diving in with headphones, should put their eyeballs on her live performance at any opportunity that comes their way.. Annie-Claude manifests that same one of a kind energy to command an audience that’s akin to a Patti Smith or a Karen O. Intense gets you halfway there.

I Am A Simulation, is the piece of bubble gum that a friend offers you, only for it to be laced with Carolina Reaper peppers.. only this song is no joke. Perhaps one of my favourite moments of any album in recent memory, is when Annie-Claude unleashes guttural intonations in the second verse. The track features shared vocals between Annie-Claude and Vucino, a combinantion that the universe loves. Bubbling motorik synths percolate, vocodered back up vocals hit a sweet synthetic sheen, and yes, a Born In The USA era Springsteen key section raises the heart rate with an odd and unexpected whiff of nostalgia.

You might want to offer up an effigy or a sacrifice for title track Sacred Times. The song to me, could be echoing out of an alternate universe… an ancient temple of the future. Annie-Claude acting as cult leader, directs the band to offer up an sacrifice of energy and sound, both ancient and new, broadcasted from archaic pulpits over Hi-Fi speakers.

Throughout Sacred Times, PyPy doesn’t stay in same place sonically for too long and it makes for a thrilling listen. Poodle Wig has a playfully frenetic pop slant whereas 15 sec absolutely shreds. Vanishing Blinds has a retro 80’s sci-fi disco energy that could be tied genetically to Duchess Says’ track I repeat Myself from 2016’s Sciences Nouvelles or the Vucino hit Male Models which as of now, remains in the vault.

Poodle Escape is not only an outlier within Sacred Times, but within PYPY’s catalog of songs to date. A subdued exit, wherin Annie-Claude delivers a french spoken word mantra over plucking keys and synthhetic strings. After some impressive musical flexing, it’s a delicate send off.

We know PYPY can blowt minds and eardrums alike, but the quieter moments on this album demonstrate that PYPY can occupy any space they want moving forward. For an album that, quite frankly, had a lot of expectations cast upon it, Sacred Times defies all expectations.

The album cover depicts a pyramid, with a surveillance camera replacing the “All Knowing Eye” or “The Eye of Providence”. A provocative image that perfectly encapsulates the symmetry of fusion between old and new, ancient and future.

You can find PYPY’s Sacred times on vinyl here: Official Goner Records Store.

PYPY on Bandcamp: