It takes considerable chutzpah to preview your first, and it is claimed only, album with what proves to be the record’s most awkward and wiry song. That is what Long Fling do with ‘Flung’ which starts with ten seconds of ominous hum that could herald the arrival of aliens on a sci-fi movie soundtrack before wonky guitars and drum machine rhythms which bring to mind the slew of ‘Trout Mask Replica’ influenced bands that formed the more interesting part of the C86 movement take over. Willem Smit’s vocals are at his most wayward, matching his” I forget, I forgot” opening lyrical gambit like a man randomly reciting his tenses. Pip Blom’s voice then sweetens the sound, alongside whirring electronic sounds. For the listener, it might take a few hearings to piece together but it eventually makes exciting sense.
Long Fling is the project of Smit (frontman of Personal Trainer) and Blom, leading lights of the Dutch indie scene but also a couple of ten years standing. It brings together two different approaches – Personal Trainer being more experimental and ramshackle, albeit with the ability to knock out a barnstorming tune, while Blom has a way with a more pop-leaning sound and her most recent album ‘Bobbie’ saw her moving in a more electronic direction. The ensuing self-titled album consists of an intriguing ten concise tracks where their styles clash, tussle and blend.
The record begins with the pop rush of ‘Pig’ on which they affectionately share reminiscences. Its opening line sees Smit asking, “remember that time when we had Chinese for breakfast and you threw up in the sink”. In her more singsong way, Blom affectionately retorts, “You’re a dick and you know it / a lovely waste of time”. Finding some accord, they both sing “there’s always something in the way”, uniting around the difficulties that somehow bind them together. It sets in train a domestic album, both in its themes and in its lo-fi sound.
Blom initially takes the lead on ‘Mouse House’, its bassline scurrying like little rodents and accompanied by very short blasts of guitar noise. ‘Weird Peace’ could easily be a Personal Trainer single, Smit’s vocal delivery and use of language at its most Malkmus like with its references to no self-confidence and formaldehyde.
Even when a song starts off conventionally, that is no guarantee of its eventual destination. ‘For Someone’, at four-and-a-half minutes the record’s longest song, begins with a chugging guitar and Blom’s voice at its most attractive before a period of mutant guitar and electronic sounds precede Smit taking the lead. Second single, ‘Cool Bottle Water Park’, has the most basic drum machine rhythm and Smit outlining how allergies have taken a hold on him prior to Blom joining the affray, the song building to a pitch that displays her pop nous.
Throughout the album maintains a zigzagging path, next veering back into oddball territory with ‘Waste Line’ which has a brittle guitar line and percussion that could be the clatter of household utensils. Delving into the minutiae of humdrum life, ‘Shoes’ revolves around trying to select an item of footwear when not presented with an Imelda Marcos style range of options. It is noticeable how well the pair’s voices complement each other when singing in unison. ‘Tossed’ sees them contemplating a stack of unpaid bills and a broken bathroom door. From a guitar line borrowed from Joy Division, they leap headlong into a rambunctious chorus. The album’s downbeat concluding track, ‘Peter Dickens’s, feels like a collection of disconnected lyric notes (Blom losing her keys and feeling upset lately, Smit texting all his ex-girlfriends asking them not to call anymore and talking to the track’s eponymous hero, his best friend) that reveal a wider picture.
It would be fair to describe ‘Long Fling’ as representing the sum of its parts. Perhaps its biggest revelation is how well their disparate voices combine. It gives the impression of random pieces colliding yet works as an enjoyable mystery tour where it is never clear what might happen next. There is much that ought to appeal to fans of both Personal Trainer and Pip Blom (two camps to which I belong), though it is doubtful whether it would necessarily win any new converts.
Long Fling: Long Fling – Out 10 October 2025 (self-released)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
