In the early and mid-2010s, TRAAMS were one of the bands keeping post-punk alive. Whether they stretched out their songs with motorik rhythms or boiled them down to cryptic rants, they were hard to mistake and even harder to pin down. It felt like they were hitting their stride with their second album, 2015's Modern Dancing, but later in the decade, their output dwindled to a handful of singles. When bassist Leigh Padley formed his own project Social Haul in the early 2020s, it seemed like that was that. However, the boredom of COVID-19 lockdowns reignited TRAAMS' creativity, and the state of the world aside, they couldn't have picked a better time to come back, since the late 2010s and early 2020s witnessed a bumper crop of bands reimagining post-punk as their own. Though songs such as the brashly winning "Flowers," from 2013's debut album Grin, fit right in with the work of Shame and Idles, personal best reveals TRAAMS aren't quite the same band as they were before. Recording their third album during a global pandemic impacted their music profoundly: Working at guitarist/vocalist Stu Hopkins' studio space meant they had to be careful not to disturb the neighbors, and they discovered the power of restraint. That's not to say that their old tricks don't have plenty of life in them; "Comedown," one of two tracks they cut pre-pandemic, is a walloping reminder of Padley and drummer Adam Stock's formidable rhythm-section chemistry. Nevertheless, personal best offers plenty of proof that the more considered approach TRAAMS had to take was an opportunity in disguise. "Breathe," a nine-minute duet with Menace Beach's Liza Violet, delivers the post-punk version of mindfulness with its reassuringly chugging beat (courtesy of a drum machine) and flowing guitars -- and shows that the band's flair for marathon tracks didn't diminish at all during their time away. Later, Protomartyr's Joe Casey adds some wild-eyed menace to the surging standout "The Light at Night." As natural as these cameos feel, TRAAMS still don't follow the post-punk rulebook too closely on personal best, and in the album's most exciting moments, they discover new ways of combining their music's visceral and cerebral aspects. The synths Stock collected and learned to play during the group's hiatus streak through "Dry" with neon vibrancy and provide a bubbly contrast to "Shields"' squalling guitars and stripped-down beat; the propulsive minimalism of "Hallie" highlights the sculptural shapes made by the trio's interplay; and "Sleeper," featuring Lowly's Soffie Viemose, uncovers a softer, prettier side that's a welcome development. Not many bands come back from a lengthy break with their finest work, but by "just refining our process," as Hopkins sings at one point on personal best, TRAAMS sound reinvented and reinvigorated -- and whet their listeners' appetite for more music as soon as possible.
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