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A new beginning with familiar roots. No matter how you slice it, Permanent Present Tense is a high test trek to the forefront of rock'n'roll's boundless canvas. The Follies have spent a collective lifetime in dark, amplified dives (see: Vanity, Vexx, Ajax, Twisted Thing for more) but their approach here is different, and firmly rooted in the present. Sure, these ten tracks have that compact, New-York-Fuckin'-City drive that's innate to the five boroughs, but let's talk about the sheer quality songwriting and arrangement on display here.
Permanent Present Tense has both the roots and the refinement that transcend the usual debut album. Fashion and genre are thrown down the fire escape in favor of memorable hooks and words that have immense replay value. Think Love and Arthur Lee, or even the Kinks' own Arthur. Brit pop & pub rock shouldered up to the shimmering guitar jangle of Haight-Ashbury, but arranged by Punks. Perhaps you'll remember this album differently, but the one sticking point to the Follies is their collective ability to synthesize the past into the present throughout ten utterly bulletproof tracks.
Our take: There are members of a bunch of New York City punk bands in this new group the Follies, but even a cursory listen would have told me that Evan Radigan from Vanity was at the helm. The guy is a great songwriter with an instantly identifiable voice, and the Follies carry forward Vanity’s sound (on their later records) while putting their own spin on Evan’s tunes. The Stones-y swagger carries over from Vanity, but the Follies also have these really incredible neoclassical lead guitars wailing all the time, which makes it sound like Television in places. The songs sound of a piece, but varied in tempo, groove, key, etc., the mark of songwriters and players with a strong sense of their own voice. There is also a co-vocalist who provides great backups throughout and takes the lead on “Bad Habits,” a country-tinged rocker that makes me feel like the Follies are going for a Fleetwood Mac dynamic. I imagine there were plenty of people in the 70s yelling about how the Flamin’ Groovies and the Nerves were a million times better than the Knack or the Romantics, and in 2024 those same people should be up in arms that the Follies starve while the Strokes lounge atop piles of cash.