album review: princess one point five, what doesn’t kill you

I hadn’t heard of Princess One Point Five until I started researching the band for this piece. I know, I know, I’m an ignorant American. But honestly, as someone who makes a concerted effort to keep abreast on new, good music, I can’t believe I’d never really listened to P1.5 before. Light Facebook investigation revealed duo Sarah-Jane Wentzki and Richard Andrew’s already strong fanbase in their native Australia. Further Grooveshark research told me that the band had a song featured on Gossip Girl’s second season soundtrack, so at least someone in America gets it. After listening to their most recent album, What Doesn’t Kill You, I must tell you that it is worth it to pay attention to this band. START NOW. Kidding; kind of.

I was immediately drawn in after the beginning of the album had passed. Very early on, P.15’s sound and style are established: Wentzki’s ethereal vocals, Andrew’s ambient soundscape, smart lyrics, frequent changes in tempo and arrangement, guest instrumental appearances, relatable themes and that “epic” quality that makes you feel like you’re actually learning something while listening to the album. The other half of the saying after which the album is titled is “makes you stronger”. It seems like throughout What Doesn’t Kill You, Princess One Point Five is articulating why that aphorism is so key.

The album opens with “Start,” an ambient intro that sets the tone of the album as thoughtful, if not melancholy. The next track, “I’m Not Ready,” reveals a central thesis of What Doesn’t Kill You: “I’m not ready for love” croons lead singer Sarah-Jane Wentzki against backdrop of what can be described as nothing but spatial sound. Why isn’t she ready? “Suit Yourself” continues in the same vein, making the listener wonder what the band has been through while further developing its sound as somewhere in between Broken Social Scene’s Feel Good Lost and low-fi Blonde Redhead. Another central question comes in “Today”: “What the hell is with today today?” asks Wentzki. I never seem to know that answer.

The middle section of the album develops nicely; highlights include self-deprecation in “Quote Me”: where P1.5 promises “revenge with cheesy poetry”, a new manifestation of the group’s sound through harmonized background group vocal and more complicated arrangement on “What Do You Know”, and an increasingly emotional and almost haunting “Fly My Pretties” that allows Wentzki to really showcase the power and range of her voice and instrumental talent and breakdown.

An “Interlude” after “Fly My Pretties” establishes a kind of third shift in the What Doesn’t Kill You’s progression. On “I Dare You”, thwarted love – “Shut up and kiss me,” commands Wentzki with impressive vocals yet again – takes center stage. The next track, “All That You’d Thought”, slows down and ends suddenly after asking the question “Is this all you’d hoped it’d be?” Not to bust out my inner literary nerd here, but this is the second instance in the album where there is a meta-quality (first was acknowledging the “cheesy poetry” in “Quote Me”). Whether or not P1.5 is asking its fans if this album is all they thought it’d be or if it’s just a lyric in a song, the music keeps you wanting more.  The last track, “All You Are”, has a decidedly more complex beat and arrangement similar to that of “What Do You Know” and closes out with the same sound as “Start”, making the album really come full circle.

By the time What Doesn’t Kill You is over, you don’t know exactly what makes Princess One Point Five stronger, but you do know one thing: the band has provided an excellent, instrumentally sound, interesting and passionate place for you to contemplate just that.