Long Fling

Long Fling, the new collaborative project of Personal Trainer's Willem Smit and Pip Blom, share second single "Cool Bottle Water Park" taken from debut album Long Fling.

Following the initial announcement of their project and album last month, and their debut UK performance at Dorset's End of the Road Festival, Willem Smit (Personal Trainer) and Pip Blom’s coupled-up supergroup Long Fling return with their second single from their eponymous album.

'Cool Bottle Water Park' in contrast to the off-kilter, wiry, and "spanky" stylings of their debut single 'Flung', which surprised long-time listeners of both bands with its leap into uncharted sonic territory, 'Cool Bottle Water Park' feels more familiar to fans of Pip Blom and Personal Trainer alike. Minimalist, kraut-like plucked guitars and upbeat drum machine rhythms form the backbone of the track, while the interplay between Pip and Willem showcases their strength as front people without ever defining a clear leader. A duet only in the technical sense, the song unfolds with no converging cries of longing, no climactic payoffs, and not even any vocal harmonies. 

Speaking on the single, Smit said: 

"'Cool Bottle Water Park' is a song we wrote a couple of years ago. We both don’t really go into a song with an idea of what we’re going to write about, but we do both change and rewrite words before we finish the record.

This time around we just stuck with placeholder lyrics I think. Most of the time our respective lines don’t have much to do with each other. Or at least not intentionally. I think for this song Pip wrote the verse, and I wrote the cool bottle bit.

The words don’t mean anything to us as of now. I think when we wrote something down we just shut off the judgmental parts of our brains and tried to come up with enough syllables to go with the melody.

What Pip and I have in common is that melody is probably our first focus when making music."

Together for over a decade as a couple while continuing to lead their respective bands independently, Smit and Blom have spent much of that time shaping this album intermittently, gradually learning the intricacies of each other’s creative language.

Early writing sessions often ended in arguments, but as the years passed, their pursuit of something “objectively perfect” gave way to a looser, more instinctive approach, focused on making music that simply felt fun and natural.

"I feel we’ve grown more comfortable making music together, we’ve probably grown up a little bit too. We don’t ask too many questions in the process, which I like, songs just kind of happen."

Pip adds: 

"When we each asked our dads separately whether they thought the album sounded more like a Willem album or more like a Pip album.

They both said the name of the other person (so, not their kid). And I loved that. I really feel like we made this album together - it’s a true blend of the both of us."

After their first-ever UK performance at End of the Road Festival, the band now announce their debut tour. Following the release of Long Fling, they will play three UK dates in Brighton, London, and Manchester, before heading to the Netherlands for four shows. This run will be the only chance to experience these songs live.

Picture by Joni Spaan

Live Dates

15th October - Brighton, Hope and Ruin (UK)

 16th of October -  London, Lexington (UK)

18th of October - Manchester, Pink Room (UK)

 1st November  - Groningen, VERA (NL) 

5th November - Nijmegen, Doornroosje (NL)

12th November - Amsterdam, Tolhuistuin (NL)

13th November - Utrecht, Ekko (NL)

Tickets here