Personal Trainer

Born in Amsterdam's underground scene around singer-composer Willem Smit, Personal Trainer first developed as a project with a rotating lineup before taking shape as a more established live band. Personal Trainer operates in a space where indie rock intersects with post-punk, power pop and an angular, art-rock–inherited songwriting style, producing fast songs, frequent shifts in tone and a strong sense of melody. Active since the latter half of the 2010s, the Dutch band built itself through a series of singles and EPs before releasing Big Love Blanket in 2022—its debut LP that gave a broader form to a repertoire hitherto forged on stage. While Willem Smit remains the gravitational center of the songwriting, Personal Trainer also functions as a collective, which is evident in music that is dense yet mobile, able to move from nervous tension to more pop-oriented passages without losing coherence.