Our favourite local record store and yours, Piccadilly Records, have just released their Best of 2011 list, a trusted annual compilation of the 100 best albums released this year, spanning weirdo indie, disco, post-punk, psych, and everything else we love to play. Hitting the coveted #1 spot this year, just ahead of such luminaries as Metronomy, Maria Minerva and Wooden Shjips, is Peaking Light's stunning debut LP, 936. Piccadilly Records succinctly explain why...
"... Originally out at the end of February on Not Not Fun (now reissued on Weird World), "936" became an instant Piccadilly hit, working its post-punk twisted psych-disco charms on pretty much everyone here - I'm sure you'll love it too. If you do, make sure you check out Maria Minerva and Washed Out as well - all three sit together under the synthwave / chillwave umbrella (whatever that is!)"
Indeed, since it's initial release (ooh, get us) when the LP floated to us down blog river as another promising and doubtlesssly oddball release from Not Not Fun recordings, both of your Work Them hosts became rather obsessed with the album, not to mention it's disinctive cover art, which in itself perfectly encapsulates the warm, heady feel of the album. As the winter nights draw in, it still sounds as great as the soundtrack to another late night ill advised aspirational Amazon purchase, as it did in the summer, strolling through the town centre or hanging over after a night at Primavera Sound in Barcelona. Having seen Peaking Light's music described as 'other-wordly' this year, I would disagree with this assessment of an admittedly hazy sounding record.
The husband and wife duo behind the band have instead recorded a psych-pop record that is far from self-indulgent or meandering, and in possession of very personable, even romantic touches, dreamily singing of 'tiger eyes' and 'all the sun that shines (shines for you)'. This winning formula hit it's stride throughout the album's stand-out track, 'Amazing and Wonderful'.
Unsurprisingly for a band who sound to be cautiously, dreamily swaying at the side of the dancefloor, even without quite jumping in to the action, a remix compilation arrives next month, simply entitled 936: The Remixes. Release information and even a streaming selection of the reworked material, coming from both hip hop and house heads and beyond, is available at the band's new online radio station, 936.fm. We've included a remix of 936 cut 'Hey Sparrow' below, which is dubbed out and mystical beyond a hippy teenager's wildest dreams.
Peaking Lights grace Manchester in person for a headline Now Wave show at The Deaf Institute, on Saturday December 9th. Perhaps the only gig this year I am comfortable guaranteeing the quality of using the word 'vibes'. If you purchase the LP in Piccadilly Records itself, you'll also be able to purchase a ticket for the gig for just £6.
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