Album Review

Peace – In Love

• 18th Mar 2013

Peace are a complex cookie to get to grips with; victims of their own success, they’re inevitably going to struggle to live up to the immense hype that they’ve so far garnered from the press. Their debut album is full of danceable rhythms and melodic hooks, but take a peek beneath the undeniably superbly produced veneer and is there enough substance to make this a career band with a canon of timeless songs, or are Peace another revolving door of style over substance? Even cutting them a little slack, it’s hard to overlook the fact that there’s not much individuality or band identity on this debut offering and, as is usually the case, this album is heavily front-loaded with the less forgettable material – and that’s saying something.

You should be familiar by now with the Smells Like Teen Spirit-era-Nirvana by way of The Stone Roses mash up of air wave bothering single ‘Follow Baby’, a combination which is only over-emphasised by the whammy bar and phase shift that penetrates this song. Likewise ‘Love Sick’ evokes some of the more forgettable moments of The Cure, stripped of any of the dark intrigue that Robert Smith provides, and shoves them through presumably the same formulaic indie-anthem generator that The Killers have often been guilty of abusing.

Maybe it’s the case that Peace just wear their influences on their sleeves, but the derivative nature of some of the material on In Love is just a little too close to the bone. Frankly, they’ve been lucky to avoid a plagiarism law suit with the uncannily familiar strains of Float Forever, giving Coldplay’s smash melody from In My Place a once over that incorporates an Oasis bolt-on middle eight. It shouldn’t be this easy to pick out prominent influences – all but the select few pioneers are guilty of rehashing their idols but most have the decency or common sense to bury any standout moments of similarity a little deeper under the skin. With so many new artists pushing the boundaries it’s more than a little disappointing to find acts with this much support regurgitating familiar music in such an obvious fashion – the sheer cynicism of the hook and melody pilfering is what makes this release so irksome.

The dirtily creeping verse bass line of Delicious is an absolute treat, albeit one that Talking Heads pioneered on Once In A Lifetime, but feels let down by a sub-par chorus and one of those indie guitar solos that sound like they’ve been thrown together by a pub band. Later, on Waste Of Paint, we’re treated to some diabolical lyric-penning that even the Gallagher brothers would be ashamed of, as front man Harry Koisser drones “You’re electric honey, you blow my brain, face to face we’re both the same.”

Yes, there are some good pop songs on this album. Yes it will undoubtedly be rolling in radio play. If you’re looking for some mid-range, friendly indie music that won’t tax you too much, you’ve found your new favourite band. If you’re not, don’t believe the hype – Peace are more likely to go down as a homage to the greats rather than ever entering their ranks. As Koisser rounds off succinctly on Toxic towards the end of the album, “all I gotta do is forget you”.

Venue: In Love
Support Band: Columbia Records