Family Average: 4/7

“In space nobody can hear your peach tree grow”

That was actually the original tagline for that movie Alien. They ended up going with something else, but who cares? Time has moved on, we have hundreds more alien movies than we don’t even know what to do with, and a new album from Deep Sea Peach Tree.

Deep Sea Peach Tree, much more than a forgotten tagline, is a band coming straight out of the family’s backyard in NYC. Their new album Milk-Based Religion seems to offer all the other benefits of a normal religion, but with stronger bones. Will the family drink the Kool-Aid?

Listen to the full album on their Bandcamp and read on to find out:

A lot of young, New York-based bands seem to be sticking their boots into the whole shoegaze/surf-rock scene. Few do it well, but Deep Sea Peach Tree has sussed it. Their new EP is hazy and lazy in the best kind of way, carried by strong bass lines and a sweet reverb. That quintessentially groovy guitar drives it all with bouncy riffs, and the dreamy, glazed vocals make it all very charming and melodic. It’s got that happy-go-lucky feel to it, and sounds familiar but not hackneyed. There is complexity and nuance, with pop-ier moments that balance out the general gooey-ness of this genre. The four tracks really showed a cohesion and range that a lot of other shoegaze-y submissions I’ve heard lately seem to lack (no shade, just fact).

5/7

The first track was good, I like the opening riff and the way the song builds up to the vocals. However, as the tracks went along I found myself getting bored. There’s definitely something there, but they need to come alive and show some emotion. 

2/7  

If you drew a line graph of this album's energy level from track to track it would be an uninterrupted diagonal line straight to the sky. The first track feels like Mac DeMarco on Xanax...in the best kind of way. Right away they got me with this surfy yet mellow style. I really dug this album. Really dug "Haircut Confidence" in particular just for the name alone! The surfy-vibe climbs in energy through "Accurate Vocab" and explodes in the final track. I can see the family jamming to this while we drive around Costa Rica this week in December, searching for a surf break that satisfies the masses. 

If you're longing for new music that does a good job at experimenting while still drawing clear inspiration from the likes of Mac DeMarco, The Cure, and other bands I don't know the names of...then I say give Deep Sea Peach Tree and this marvelous EP a shot! (oh man tho guys your name is sooo long haha)

5/7

What a limb jiggling good time we have on our hands here. Not too hard to understand why it makes me feel this way either. Them stringy shimmery guitars just send these lovely little ripples down my spine and into my nervous system.

Deep Sea Peach Tree has done some pretty great things using the indie rock sound as sort of starting off point. Thankfully they don’t just sit in one place and zig zag into a number of different alleys to put together something that sounds like a fresh take on stuff you already are fond of. By far the strongest track on the album for me would have to be “Haircut Confidence”. Aside from having a name that brought back hilariously embarrassing memories from my high school days, it was also a dynamic song throwing in lots of little change ups.

Lastly, a special bonus, all the tracks are painted with this kind of melancholy feeling. So if you are like me and enjoy upbeat but kinda sad music this fella has got your number.

6/7

Not bad, not great. They are mellow for sure. They remind me a bit of mid 80's groups like Tears for Fears or Crowded House. Unlike these bands, however, they are not as polished or well produced. I just don't know why you would want to record or put out mediocre music. I give this a—

2/7

Me thinks album BAAAD! Make Kevin angry.

I am kidding but in all seriousness I wished that there was a little more substance to this EP. This was not due to lack of tone color; I was pretty happy with how stripped down this the sound was but I just felt it was played too safe. The vocals were not as polished as I would have liked but I really enjoyed the instrumentals. Merry Christmas :) :) :*

4/7

The funny thing is right with the first song I was like “hey this is pretty mellow”, and then I saw the song was actually called “Mellow Richard”.

Deep Sea Peach Tree—the band’s name was accurate to the sound, it’s got an echoey underwater feel to it. The bass-line is steady and has a nice beat to it. You can’t really understand what they’re saying for the most part, but it doesn’t seem to matter. The lyrics are kinda like if E E Cummings was a singer, they evoke feeling but not in a traditional sense. “Accurate Vocabulary” got me swaying back and forth, and Felt gave the album a strong finish by kicking it up a notch energy-wise.
One criticism I have with this is that it sometimes veers into blandness. But in general, this is definitely an album that feels nice.

5/7