As Peace battle through the sold out crowd at this upstairs venue there is a element of excitement in the air. This band haven’t been able to move for buzz on the British blogosphere and anticipation for the debut LP is hard to miss. A this show however the band are decidedly unfazed as they slinker on to the stage fashionably later than planned. There’s always a danger with acts like this that their unmissable look and tumblr-friendly branding is there to mask a low rate indie band but this blusterous evening in Bristol proved that Peace aren’t showing off to hide anything, they are showing off because they can.
Tracks like ‘California Daze’ showcase a genuinely strong songwriting ability with a chorus that is built less for the upstairs room of a harbourside pub and more for venues with a tad more grandeur. “Were you born to live, or born to die?” coos lead singer Harrison Kossier with a gritty glamour and leather clad luxury that a lot of his contemporaries would love to capture as well. This skill is carried on with single ‘Lil Echo’ which is a radio-friendly bouncy indie pop song for a generation where many would say indie has lost its cool. Peace perform every track with a distinctive confidence. There is little eye contact between the band mates which suggests this may be a band on their constant A-game. The master plan is only half compromised when a light smile is shared between them before they break in to ‘Bloodshake’ which is a song with the most dance assuming riff of recent times. The band are swaying and throwing themselves around the stage as they play it. There is a shared sense of activity when this song plays which Peace only heighten by their performance style. When it ends and the gig ends with it, people are still on a real high which puts ‘Bloodshake’ in a shot of track of the 2012 in my books.
The initial excitement that Peace brought about wasn’t dampened by the real thing. They are a band who are perfectly unkempt and polished to a level of effortlessness. Their intentions as a band aren’t widely known, they haven’t made a splash by wanting to revive scenes-gone-by or trashing other artists they have merely found a following based on super-tight singles and a look that says it doesn’t care. In doing so- people seem to care… an awful lot.
