More about: Peace

Peace’s In Love was a defining album for me back in my days of being an ‘indie kid’.  Discovered three years after its initial release, I was precious about music at thirteen in a way most people would probably find pretentious but I didn’t care. I skulked about in a pair of those chequered Vans that everyone had, wearing a pair of fishnet tights whenever time would allow, listening to the funky riffs of tracks like ‘Wraith’ and feeling like the coolest person ever to exist because very few people at school knew of Peace and their music.  

In Love is an oddball collection of songs about love and hope. ‘California Daze’ is still the song I put on when I need a good cry because Harry Koisser’s lyrics concerning the doom and gloom of everyday mundanity whilst pushing this idea that things will (and do) get better hit like nothing else.  

As the album hits the ten-year mark, it’s hard to believe how quickly time has moved on – how I don’t live at my parent’s house in Leeds anymore but instead with three of my best friends in Manchester studying for my dream degree. I’ve got real responsibilities like a job and relationships to maintain now too but across its 53 minutes of play time, In Love transports me back to a time between the ages of 13-15 when my biggest worry was what gig I had coming up next rather than something big and adult like money or university deadlines. I’ve got incredibly fond memories of seeing Peace play songs from the record live at a teeny tiny festival in 2018 (one of their last shows before they slipped away into hiding, no doubt to work on whatever’s to come next) coated in glitter, hungry and dehydrated but incredibly happy to be there as shirtless teenage boys formed moshpits to the sound of  ‘Bloodshake’.  

Whilst In Love may be grouped into the category of ‘cringe indie’ by some, it reflects the  greatness of bands from years gone by (Oasis, Blur, The Beatles – the whole lot!) whilst adding a certain level of their own personality and flare to a genre that can feel like the musical equivalent of watching paint dry at times.

Harry Koisser has a voice like no one else I’d heard at the time I was first getting into the group and I’m still yet to find someone with one like it. The group paved the way for so many other artists in the genre including fellow Brummies Swim Deep, Superfood and even indie greats Wolf Alice, none of them would be where they are today without the group’s influence and quite literally too. Peace took all three bands on tour with them to promote the album way back when in 2013.

This was the album that made Peace the band we know them as today, putting them properly on people’s radars, it charted at Number 16 on the UK album charts which isn’t shy of amazing  for a group with only one prior EP to their name.

Peace capture the experiences of being a young person so perfectly that their lyrics defy age too. I don’t think I’ll ever know how to flirt without going an embarrassing shade of crimson  and saying something stupid but that’s one of the things the band get so right on this record. The excitement of a stupid crush pulses its way through ‘Lovesick’ and ‘Delicious’ and they’re both as relatable as ever even though I’m almost 20 and should probably get a grip. No matter how many times I listen to it, the latter produces a rush of dopamine so huge into my body that makes my hands tremor a tiny bit every time. More than anything it’s a comforting thing for listeners, particularly those in their early 20’s both back when the album was first released (just like Harry Koisser was) and now to know that there’s this  group of slightly awkward and somewhat geeky men that have experienced all the trials and  tribulations that this period of life brings with it. 

“a time machine into the euphoria and carelessness of teenage summers"

I spoke to long time Peace fans Luke Huntington and Mel McMillan about the influence of the album on their lives. Luke described it as being “a time machine into the euphoria and carelessness of teenage summers and almost captures the feeling of what falling in love feels like” and he’s more than right. It’s a perfect summary of all the ‘firsts’ that being a teenager and in your early 20’s brings with it: first loves, first heartbreaks, even first house parties and with ‘Lovesick’ being featured in the soundtrack of the Netflix series Heartstopper, there’s no sign of this album being forgotten any time soon. Mel then told me  that she “knows the album inside out” and that it “soundtracked my teenage years” and there’s something joyful in the fact an entire new generation of teenagers will get to follow in both Mel and Luke’s footsteps in a way and discover both Peace’s and this record’s greatness for themselves.  

Returning to the album after not listening for so long honestly made me well up a bit because it hit me that I’ve grown up a lot in the time since I first discovered it. And although my days of coating myself in glitter and being a hardcore fangirl are long gone, I still can’t help but be thankful for records like In Love which provided a stepping stone path toward the music taste I have today. I still love guitar music as much as I did at thirteen and fourteen and I’ll always be a sucker for a good ballad dedicated to love, heartbreak (or even both) thanks to this record.

There’s no better time to be revisiting this album now that Peace, as a newly reformed two piece have announced their next endeavor. It’s nice to have that comparison available and see how far they’ve come in just  ten years but I can’t help but be filled with nostalgia for a time long gone every time I press play. Long live indie.

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More about: Peace