It’s been a while since we heard from Perfect, but hearing their 2022 EP is an experience still relatively fresh in our memory thanks to not having heard anything quite like it since. For the uninitiated, fans of Antenomie, black midi and Mr. Bungle‘s California-era will find oodles of avant jazz to sink their teeth into across their discography, but Perfect has evolved far and away from the lands of true comparison.
The band’s latest, BodeNote, at first, is terrifying. It’s stark, dissonant, and unforgiving, almost in the style of Charlie Mingus or Cecil Taylor thanks to their brass section, but it’s a crusade of aural terror in the best of ways.
Eventually, the record opens up and unfurls into a sort of inter-dimensional prog fantasy land, with cuts like “Oh, yes!” and “Machine Termite” constantly frothing over into different dynamics like some tremulous titan of the sea.
At times, the record almost sounds like Yowie channeling Mars Volta, but again comparison or even genre itself is only applicable in the loosest of terms with Perfect. Right after we wrote down that impression, the next thing we wrote down is ‘they’ve gone full Terry Reilly’ on “Topian Prectiuy.”
Above all, it’s highly original stuff, and extremely high-quality to boot with great production and surgically precise instrumentation, even when leaning into the noise. Haunting is also something that comes to mind for the record consistently, but that’s a word we kind of overuse around here, and even without with spiritually cantankerous overtones we’d still be left with something truly transfixing. BodeNote‘s sound often resembles its cover art – something ritualistic and darkly magical. Even before the record was over, we had a feeling was going to go down as one of 2026’s boldest and brightest records, and if you’re brave, we highly recommend embarking on this absolute safari of sound before everyone else finds out.
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