Peter Martin played drums in an early permutation of Young Jesus back in the early 2010s, and he used to release his own music under the name 90 Pounds Of Pete. But all of that was eclipsed by his rise as a musically inclined comedic TikTok personality during the pandemic, which led to his signing to Terrible Records under the name Petey USA.
Nowadays he’s leveled up to Capitol, which released his album The Yips this past summer. Petey recorded it with Chris Walla, the former Death Cab For Cutie member whose extensive production discography includes indie and emo favorites like Ratboys, Foxing, Tegan And Sara, Snarls, the Thermals, and Now, Now. In a vacuum, The Yips is an impressive album, and when grading on the curve of “albums made by TikTok comedians,” it’s a smashing success.
Petey sings with a quivering gravitas befitting his music’s blend of heartland rock and Midwest emo, bringing a grit that balances the production’s shimmering electronic sheen. Large chunks of it sound like if Philly greats Restorations and the War On Drugs made an album together and everything clicked rather than clashed, though there are also tracks that veer closer to a hearty Springsteen disciple fronting Chvrches. In other words, it’s a bunch of big sounds to convey even bigger feelings.
Today Petey is capping off his Yips year with a new three-song EP. A Case Of Yips — tacked onto the end of the original album, deluxe style, under the title The Yips (A Case Of) — is once again produced by Walla, and it rips. Petey spends these tracks trying to make sense of the personal, political, and spiritual with a searching curiosity, but his musical vision could not be more clear. Check out the full slate of tracks below.
The Yips (A Case Of) is out now on Crow Island/Capitol.
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