Denial, control, legacy, reality, and peaches. Sunglass Moustache reach dystopian heights of nuance in their debut LP; melding an album, artistic backstory, and 35-minute music video into a harrowing parable about the misunderstood fruit.
Just like a peach, the album is dripping with sweet hooks and juicy grooves, yet holds an unappetising pit at its core: “The Machine”. As you would carelessly throw away this pit and continue on with your succulent treat, so too does the indoctrinated society that Sunglass Moustache has created. It’s a narrative that George Orwell himself would be proud of.
Peaches is as nuanced as it is hallucinogenic. Sunglass Moustache use their debut to craft an apocalyptic resistance for the revered stone fruit, all coated by a river of sweet, flowing sonics.
To completely appreciate the cinematic universe that is Peaches, we need to seperate the music from the narrative.
Harking from Texas, the five-piece outfit split their time between Good Danny’s in Lockhart and Cacophony Recorders in Austin. Alongside the talents of producer Erik Wofford, whose credits range from Black Angels to White Denim, these sessions forged the nutritious tracks that we hear today.
Sonically, the ‘Stache serve up a delicious platter of psych-rock stylings. Peaches is 33 minutes of sweltering vocals, dusty melodies, and thoughtful beats, all melted down into a prismatic ambience that soothes the soul. Influences such as Berlin-era Bowie, Richard Swift, and Brian Jonestown Massacre can even be located throughout their retro-futuristic blend. All in all, Sunglass Moustache have undeniably crafted a masterpiece of lush tunes and smooth vibes.
However, they said it best when they referred to the album as “an apocalyptic fever dream set to an isolation-themed rock and roll house party soundtrack.”
The album seemingly navigates a world in which peaches (yes, the fruit) are looked on with contempt, under the control of an all-knowing “Machine”. The audience is then lead through the birth of a resistance, originating from the band’s first encounter with the forbidden fruit in Only The Machines, only to find partial solidarity through the insurgency of Yellow.
The album’s final track is as elegiac as it is unapologetic, seemingly depicting a revolutionary watching as the shadow of the authority looms over him. Yet, his beliefs never falter. With the band’s syrupy melodies coating these analogies, Peaches concludes with the line “yellow ain’t far away, yellow ain’t gonna get me. I don’t…” The silence of their unfinished lyric is near deafening.
As with most allegorical dystopias, the band leaves the audience alone to wonder. Was “The Machine” taken down? Did the rebellion succeed? What happened to our revolutionary?
Sunglass Moustache are following in the footsteps of some of the world’s most influential writers, crafting an alternate yet self-referential reality, cultivating a narrative to invest the listener, tracing the journey of a revolutionary to provide hope, and then leave audiences unnerved as the bad guy wins.
Peaches is ultimately an Orwell-esque tale of authoritarianism and dissent played out through a deep love for stone fruit. Throw in nuances on the permeability of collective consciousness, the malleability of reality, and an undefined connection to American politics, and you have Sunglass Moustache’s debut.
The band’s accompanying film, Peaches The Movie, gives a crucial insight into this storyline, as does their enigmatic single breakdown for Only The Machine. Both are an absurdist collage of narrative arcs and caricatures that strangely make sense… and incorporates music from the album sometimes.
As a debut, what Sunglass Moustache has achieved is jaw-dropping. Combining indie-rock psychedelia with an allegoric fever-dream of social revolution, this is an incredible beginning to their catalogue.
Peaches is now available on all streaming platforms.
