Peachcake – What Year Will You Have the World? Review

29 March 2009, George @ 6:45 pm Peachcake What Year Will You Have the World? Review

Nostalgia, can music really evoke the inauthentic feeling of a moment in time once lived? Can music replicate and improve upon a genre perfected over twenty years ago? In many ways it feels like 1986 again thanks to ‘What Year Will You Have the World?’ It was a time when synthpop ruled the hearts of the masses. Melodies, beats, and lyrics were almost completely free of guitars and percussion.

Peachcake aims to bring a new wave of synthpop into the modern fold. The Arizona duo, Stefan Pruett and John O’Keefe have a light hearted and almost silly angle to their music. This new wave is the structure for Peachcake’s sound. ‘What Year Will You Have the World?’ is revitalizing the genre to the dot com generation through cute energizing melodies. The optimistic message waivers from track to track and regardless of the fresh artistic angle, (album art example) without it, the music feels empty.

The nuances of Peachcake’s melodies are lost without repeated listening. The band has a very open yet eccentric sense of humor most evident with their song titles. They convey an open statement about anything from love to grass roots organizing. The titles are extremely confusing at first glance but they go with the music harmoniously. The more time that’s spent with each song the greater the understanding of that sense of humor. It gives each song a new appreciation and perspective. This subtly also causes problems for the album. Peachcake rejuvenates the electronic pop genre by grafting their cute earnest style to the mix but beyond songs like ‘Welcome to the Party to Save the World! and ‘Jeremiah, Stop Taking Bukowski so Seriously…’ it feels lost. Their style doesn’t evolve the genre anymore then the intention to mill around in the music.

‘Are Your People Ready to Shrink Continents?!’ and ‘How to Get to the Moon and Back on a Half Tank of Gas (As Told by the Great Racecar Driver From Outer Space)’ are among the only examples to experiment beyond the spectrum. The former uses electric guitar to set the rhythm, with the latter using short words and vocals aggressively set the tone. Unfortunately they do little to set themselves apart from the others. The emphasis on beats over melody gives ‘Flight of the Space Owl: The Contentions of the Great Space Panda…’ and ‘Stop Acting Like You Know More About the Internet Cafe Than Me’ an open ended rhythm. They give the feeling of freedom despite how linear synth melodies can be.

It’s difficult to call this album a disappointment because regardless of its shortcomings, there’s something to be said about the upbeat catchy wavelengths it taps into. ‘What Year Will You Have the World?’ lacks real depth beyond the quick pick up and listen, yet it delivers in reliving the once great sound of synthpop (albeit barely). That may be reason enough for some to give this album a shot.

AWmusic