James Zero, the Gallitzin, PA-based one-man operation behind Anything But Kountry Records, released “PAST IS PERFECT” today as the penultimate single from his upcoming album “early2thou,” due in August. As with his entire catalog, Zero wrote, produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered the track himself, playing every instrument, including a guitar solo – a first for him, by his own account, and the result of work done at The Winter Station Studios in Pennsylvania, the same place he recorded his 2021 debut “Oceans (& Other Bodies of Water).” The song plays like a love song on the surface, but it’s actually a tribute to a friend Zero lost years ago. The title carries the song’s philosophy: the past, however painful, shapes who we become, and in that sense, it’s perfect because it brought us here. Zero has called this the last song recorded for the album and one of the hardest to mix.
The song sounds very much like those classic emo songs with a big sound and a beautifully melodic chorus, but what sets it apart is the vocal performance and production. The vocals sound very modern, and that’s enough for it to sound fresh again – the vocals with those vocoder effects and clever layering with delays at key points in the song give it a completely different flavor. It’s the meeting point Zero was clearly aiming for between The Used and My Chemical Romance on one side and Porter Robinson and Madeon on the other, and the blend actually works because neither half overpowers the other. The guitar work he’s proud of earns its place too – the riffs and solo add a dimension that’s been mostly absent from his sound until now.
“PAST IS PERFECT” lands as a genuine highlight in Zero’s catalog precisely because it doesn’t choose between nostalgia and innovation – it runs both at once. For an artist who handles every part of the process himself, that kind of control over tone and texture is no small achievement. “early2thou” has a real statement piece on its hands here.
