In Conversation With #083 - PEAKES
Yorkshire three-piece PEAKES have come back in true alt-pop style with their latest EP ‘Pre Invented World’. The release is their most cinematic collection yet, tackling the themes of anxiety and alienation. The band took a moment to discuss with us the EP in more depth.
So, the EP is out now - how does it feel?
Molly: It feels bloody lavely! We’re really proud of these songs, so it’s a great feeling to finally have them out there.
It is called ‘Pre Invented World’, does it have a certain meaning?
Max: I usually write down random phrases in my notes that I go to for song ideas/concepts. It stood out to us and seemed very relevant to what a lot of our songs were about. This feeling that the world around you has been constructed and designed by others to trip you up. We especially write about this in Careless Creation. In googling the phrase we also uncovered that it was a term used by the artist David Wojnarowicz, who we found really inspiring. This quote of his stuck with us: “I’m trying to lift off the weight of the pre-invented world so I can see what’s underneath it all.”
The EP was produced by Tim Bran and Roy Kerr, who has worked with the likes of Aurora, Rae Morris and London Grammar. How was that experience and how did that partnership come about?
Molly: We had so much fun recording the EP with Tim and Roy. They’re both so skilled at what they do, it was a fountain of knowledge we could drink from. Also they had a Jupiter 8 so Max was in synth heaven. We started by having a few sessions together and really loved the process of working together so it happened quite organically.
What would you say are the key themes and influences in the EP?
Max: The themes of the EP are pretty varied I feel. We talk about a lot of things from relationships to mental health to the partriachy, it’s all over the shop. Musically the EP’s pretty varied too. But the artist’s we keep on going back to are Portishead, Cocteau Twins, New Order and in retrospect I think you can hear snippets of that in the music.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
Molly: Lyrically I love first verse in We’ll Talk. I think the imagery is really powerful.
‘Be careful with the clothes you’re in
I told you they were wearing thin
Be cautious with the steps you take
Too heavy and the soles will break’
Max: ‘I’m an open air museum, take a look inside my head’. From A Sacred Place, I love the way it breaks the 4th wall & it’s an impactful opening line.
You live together in a house in Leeds, does the help with creating music? Especially during this current Covid-19 crisis? How are you keeping motivated?
Molly: Hmm it helped pre-Covid but it’s proven pretty difficult to remain creative when there’s nowhere to go. We’re not the sort of people who work best when we isolate ourselves and hunker down for hours and hours to make music. Our method is more that we write in short bursts and then go and experience other things around that. That’s definitely where we draw our creativity from. So it’s been quite a struggle trying to adapt to this new situation. What’s been more productive is revisiting past ideas that were never finished and reworking them. It’s looking like we’ll have a couple of new songs to come out of lockdown with though so that’s something to be excited about!