Rise

Formats

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  NNF217CDCD  £10.00

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  NNF217LP  £15.00

Label

Not Not Fun

Peaking Lights

936

It's difficult not to be overly descriptive when talking about the kind of music that Wisconsin dub-pop duo Peaking Lights make. The band's amoebic, sun-speckled concoctions are decidedly psychedelic; these guys do an eight-and-a-half-minute song called "Marshmellow Yellow", after all. But the band's sophomore record, 936, is less structurally ambiguous than it appears: If you can resist getting totally stranded in its opiate-friendly atmospheres, the joys of 936 are easy to pin down.

Peaking Lights work like a kaleidoscope, and not only because their music is so richly colored and fluid. The basic patterns are laid out right in front of you-- catchy drum loops, loping bass rhythms, oily groove patterns-- while the smaller, stranger details in your periphery help tie everything together. Take "Birds of Paradise (Dub Version)", a song that best characterizes Peaking Lights' M.O. Aaron Coyes lets the clunky drums and bass line anchor the song neatly, while Indra Dunis provides some bewitching, hymn-like vocals. The rest is wonderfully detailed, as Spaghetti Western guitars, reverb, and curious spurts of keyboard drift by. There's no need to clutter the song with extraneous patches of noise, no need to overstimulate. Peaking Lights make sure everything is carefully plucked, arranged delicately, and given room to breathe, with the groove handling the heavy lifting.

For fans of psych-journeyman Sun Araw's collages, this might all sound pretty familiar. Peaking Lights are certainly close contemporaries, but the differences are crucial and indicative of their interest in fostering a subtler, more romantic feel. The fact that the band hails from Wisconsin is puzzling; while components of some of these songs sound downright arid and lost, a lot of 936 produces a tingle only a vitamin D-rich bath of sunlight can offer. 936 isn't necessarily a record you might consider tucking in your beach bag-- it's likely too alien and too narcotized (all of this depending on where you're vacationing, of course). But considering that so much of this crackled, psych-drenched dub coming in from the West Coast feels so damn heavy, the lightness of Peaking Lights makes for a surprisingly luminous listen.

Tracklist

• 01 – Synthy
  02 – All The Sun That Shines
  03 – Amazing and Wonderful
  04 – Birds of Paradise Dub Version
  05 – Key Sparrow
  06 – Tiger Eyes (Laid Back)
  07 – Marshmellow Yellow
  08 – Summertime