Dispatches from Promotional Email Purgatory, Vol. 2: Public Opinion and Fentanyl

by Nate

The ugly truth of promotion is that the job is to promote whatever the thing is, regardless of personal taste. This isn't unique to PR work—it's true of almost all marketing, if not almost all work that almost all people do—but it's especially true in promotion, where the job is the thing, regardless of its quality. If one is being paid to shine a piece of shit and push it up a hill, one throws the gloves on and drives with their legs.

That seems ignoble, but the other side of that ball is that promotion is, in a certain light, hucksterism. It's making a claim, promising something, then letting that thing speak for itself. If whatever the item being promoted is turns out to be fool's gold, or not so much a giant as it is a kind of tall guy, the check cashes either way. Being in PR means getting the blessing of the curtain, but it also means you might get yelled at for shit that ain't your fault. At the end of the day, all any promotional professional can do is pull the levers to try and get people to pay attention, and if that works to direct eyes for two seconds, the rest is on the material itself.

This futility—that there are only so many knobs to twist or levers to pull—is on my mind today as we review the promotional emails received in recent weeks for two separate albums.

What is being pitched?

Two new albums, pitched on the day they were released, from the same record label: Painted on Smile by Public Opinion and Fentanyl by Fentanyl.

What do we assume is the preferred outcome of this promo email?

This is a curious example, because in both cases, the email was sent on the day of release, so the press window has largely closed at this point. Were these emails announcements of albums, or releases of new tracks, they could be picked up and quickly flipped by any number of low-to-mid-level music sites.

Since this are day-of announcements, the best-case scenario is probably that there might be some knock-on coverage option down the road—a writer for, say, New Noise Magazine, sees the albums are out, listens on a whim, hears something, and decides to write a feature down the line. Day-of is too late for reviews, so that's out, but both emails include tour dates, and that can always be a news story. A day-of promo emails also lets the sender include any quotes or links to relevant coverage as a means to create outlet FOMO.

Generally speaking, the most likely outcome is a reminder that the album is there and the hope that something more comes of it, but these feel like "closing the campaign" messages. Not useless, but not expected to drive broad coverage.

How is it being described?

In the world of this promo email, Fentanyl are a "hardcore wrecking crew" who are so "paint-peelingly loud that the notes turn into knives" and are "a must listen for fans of truly unhinged hardcore."

This level of straightforward description evades Public Opinion, who take "lurking melodicism" delivers it with "the biting execution of hardcore, the primal swagger of garage rock, and the widescreen hooks of 2000s indie rock." This is a long way to go to not call something pop-punk, though it does point out that Painted on Smile is at least in part a "ultra-catchy punk record" (it is also, apparently, "one part exorcism," which, sure).

What does it sound like?

Accurate of Hokum?

I mean, both these albums are out on the day the email says, so that's ACCURATE.

Regarding Fentanyl — I would push back against calling this "truly unhinged," but it is certainly hardcore as all hell and loud as all shit. The lack of distortion seems to be the real hook of this album, and it does present something of a counter-measure between the more metalcore or doom-tinged hardcore of the last couple of years. It's relative brevity, even in the hardcore world where getting up to three minutes is still an oddity, is also a unique selling feature. You can quibble, but it's mostly ACCURATE.

Regarding Public Opinion — Slightly harder to pin down in writing, so I am inclined to provide some leeway on the description. This is, as I said above, basically a pop-punk album from dudes who clearly love hardcore and power-pop. Put another way: this record is produced by the main dude from Militarie Gun, which is the standard-bearer for this kind of hardcore-indebted power-pop, and this feels very much in line with that movement. Also, this album fuckin rocks! Big find for me, best case scenario from a promo email. I will say that the description is HOKUM, but WELL-INTENTIONED. I will be checking these guys out when they come to Rochester in November.