HEALTHY EARTH/VINYLE COULEUR

Description

Listening to Peaer is like watching someone swiftly and gracefully solve a complicated math equation. Each moment is executed with precision, care, and the foresight of a chess master for its use in a later part of the arrangement. Every note and every space between notes is priceless to the composition of the song. For a band made up of two studio engineers and a guitar teacher, their music is naturally methodical—but not at all rigid and complicated. Their new album, 'A Healthy Earth', is deeply introspective, authentic, and colorful. A sensational balance of meticulous sonic construction and self-analytic lyrics that pave the way for stimulating social commentary. After years of frontman/guitarist Peter Katz playing with a rotating lineup, the band solidified into a tight-knit trio—bassist/vocalist Thom Lombardi and drummer Jeremy Kinney—when Katz began touring in 2016. This time around, they decided to create an album using the classical concept of tone painting, which they jokingly refer to as “musical puns.” It is a technique in which the subject is reflected in the sounds themselves, such as when the band uses a circle-of-fifths progression in the first swirl, “Circle.” Or when the bass clarinet solo in “Ollie,” a song about Katz’s dog, is directly inspired by the energy of a puppy on a walk. In a song like “Multiverse,” which sees Katz dreaming about a theoretical universe where he never became a musician, the specificity of the sonic/lyrical link is endlessly artful. Vocals are hard-panned; Katz and Lombardi’s raw harmonies are pictured on one side and the other of Katz’s otherworldly autotuned vocal. Together, they evoke the song’s “multiple versions” theme, and the band goes so far as to cut the guitar and bring the synthesizer to the fore right as Katz utters: “In another universe, I never touched a guitar.” Love is a central theme of the album, but Peaer never approaches the subject derivatively. “In My Belly” asks you if you choose love or if love chooses you, questioning the platitudinal idea of “falling” as a movement in which love is induced. The track “I.K.W.Y.T.” recalls a time when romantic spontaneity yields mixed results, whereas “Wilbur” is a raw acoustic letter to his car and his mother; his loved ones “neglected in pursuit of my own mind.” “Like You” cleverly incites our predispositions to crush on those who resemble ourselves the most. “I like you because I want to be like you in many ways,” Katz sings. Just as the musical elements have a unified sense of purpose, the broad narrative of 'A Healthy Earth' is an examination of our shared existence. “Commercial” is written from the perspective of a paranoid boomer looking for ways to save money and protect his family. “Joke” is about taking responsibility for not treating Trump’s unorthodox campaign seriously from the get-go. The most striking political anecdote on the record, however, is encapsulated in the swirling beat of “Don’t.” With 'A Healthy Earth', Peaer has created a space where forward-thinking indie-rock, slowcore, and asymmetrical pop can harmoniously flourish. An inspiring musical picture of how Katz and his bandmates interact in our beautifully cluttered world.