I’ll level with you – I’m a huge fan of Ty Segall. For me, that guy hasn’t put a foot wrong since exploding onto the scene just seven short years ago. During that time, this exquisite guitarist has officially released at least one album per year that range between “good” and “brilliant” in terms of quality, not to mention the countless “unofficial” releases which have made him so prolific, that he is making Mark E Smith look like Harper Lee. Either last year’s ‘Manipulator‘ or 2012’s ‘Slaughterhouse‘ can surely be viewed as Segall’s trophy pieces, whilst side projects such as his collaborations with the equally great Mikal Cronin or his bands Fuzz and Epsilons have further cemented his status as one of the true modern geniuses of the underground. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw his name feted as producer of Peacers‘ self titled debut album.
Ty Segall, it appears, is a far better musician and songwriter than he is a producer.
Peacers, on paper, should be a band that I love, from their description as uncompromising psychedelic rock to the fact that this project is the brainchild of Sic Alps head honcho, Mike Donovan. The truth is though that most of this album sounds as though he’s written part of a promising song and just given up halfway through. Mr. Segall seems to be of the opinion that none of this matters as long as you flip the vocal reverb up to brutal. He’s wrong though, because no amount of tinkering is enough to plaster over the sutures. Not if you just haven’t got the tunes in the first place anyway.
This is a shame because ‘Peacers‘ does have the honour of possessing some of the best, most original song titles you’ll hear this year – ‘Heiress Chilton’ and ‘Leicester Bride‘ at least sound fascinating until you hear them. ‘Institution Shave‘? Fantastic title, but anyone who presses play on this track and doesn’t immediately hear ‘I Am The Walrus’, well, they’ve either never HEARD ‘I Am The Walrus’ before or are yet to reach puberty. Or, obviously, both.
There are glimmers of light here and there though – ‘Piccolo And Ant‘ is an effective hybrid of The Stooges and an embryonic Primal Scream. Sadly, clocking in at a paltry one minute and twenty seconds, it’s the shortest number here by some distance.
Where ‘Mary Jane‘ sounds bored and lethargic, as though it was trying to be the Jesus And Mary Chain but decided it was too much effort, at least ‘Kick On The Plane‘ has some pizazz about it, all filthy feedback and Keith Richards attitude. It would be the standout track by at least the length of three brontosauruses, if it actually bothered to go anywhere, but instead that medal of honour goes to the quite marvellous Nuggets emulating garage rock of curtain closer ‘Blume Super Francisco‘. It’s far and away the most commercially viable thing here and hopefully an indicator of which direction Peacers will go in on their next offering, for, despite how underwhelmed I feel on this occasion, I suspect they may well be a band to watch.
[Rating:2.5]
