Richard Blowes
Apr 8, 20222 min
Punching Peaches released three singles in 2021 - Wristwitch, Maggots and Billy? - and started to make a name for themselves with blistering live shows in Galway, Limerick and Dublin.
2022 is going to be a big year for them and they have several single releases planned. The first of these is the slow building, brooding Unknown.
In the USA school or college graduation is also known commencement; this has led to the somewhat unwieldy phrase 'culmination of the commencement'. I may be hitting the hyperbole button a wee bit hard but it feels that's where Punching Peaches are right now.
Not finished, far from it. Simply that this career (and careering) highlight marks the end of the beginning and the beginning of the next phase. It's a stunning step up from the previous three singles which, while terrific, didn't have Unknown's ambition, complexity and execution.
The track opens slowly with a hypnotic guitar hook as we follow the perspective of two people on the sidelines of society. The texture thickens as the verses continue and the tempo rises after a brief pause for breath. Delivering complexity worthy of OK Computer era Radiohead, the final section sees the band shoot for the stars. And blaze across Copernicus' heliocentric universe on the way.
Unknown is Punching Peaches' darkest, most ambitious song to date and a supersonic start to the band’s 2022 release schedule.
Play loud. Play often.
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Punching Peaches appear on our second compilation, available now in the Blowtorch Records shop