Peace initially caused a stir back in 2011 with the track ‘Bblood’ which has since been transformed into the more manageable title of ‘Bloodshake’. Their rhythmic indie-rock made people take note and the 90s inspired single ‘Follow Baby’ followed. Now we see the band launch into their début EP and for the much hyped band the results are mostly positive.
‘Ocean’s Eye’ is a lush, almost psychedelic song, as the warped guitars are daintily poked around the track with lead singer Harrison Koisser’s swirling, gruff vocals adding a real despondent nature to the song. ‘Bloodshake’ is the most accessible track with nods to Foals that appear almost compulsory for any ‘alternative’ artist today. The summery, playful guitars also lead to Friendly Fires comparisons. But there’s something different here too; there’s a style drawn from the heyday of grunge which gives off a deep and varied aura. As the track progresses, it almost seems dark at times. This is followed up by ‘Californian Daze’ which is a sweet, little track, that starts off all minimalist, charming and stereotypically Californian, but is certainly a rather odd move for the Birmingham group. And then the closer comes out of nowhere.
A cover of ‘1998’ provides the listener with a sumptuous piece of slow-tempo post-rock which never really seemed to be on the cards on Delicious EP. The crashing echoes and distant riffs hark right back to Pink Floyd too, as the band cover a great deal of music history in ten minutes and herein lies part of the issue. The band clearly aren’t sure what direction to take.
While the songs are all technically impeccable, and the songs have a great deal of creativity, there’s a real lack of focus across Delicious EP. Perhaps the aim was just to provide the world with a showcase of what the ‘hype band’ can do. If so, full credit to them. But in terms of building an identity, Peace’s début has led to more questions than it has answered.
7/10
