Peachfuzz – ‘Raise High Your Bright Halo of Stars’

One of the great things about music is that there is a song and an album for every mood in the emotional spectrum. Do you want to stay inside on a rainy day and be introspective? There is a record for that. Are the highs and lows of being in love causing you to be a wreck? There is a record for that. Wanna rage against the machine? Well, you get it.

And then there are those records that you reach for when you want to get in your car on a sunny day, surge down the motorway with your windows down, and blare those tunes as loudly as your eardrums can stand. ‘Raise High Your Bright Halo of Stars’, the fourth studio album from the Bridgend, UK band Peachfuzz is a record that appears to exist just for this purpose.

The album kicks off with a blend of guitar tones and feedback for the song ‘Something’s Wrong’, that leads to the exuberant chant of “woo hoo hoo” from a gang of vocalists. It is at this moment, just seconds into the album, which you would want to be accelerating onto the motorway, as the bright light from the sun hits your face. From there, ‘Raise High Your Bright Halo of Stars’ never lets up.

Trying to place a band like Peachfuzz into a specific musical category is rather difficult. Simply put, they are a rock band, a rock band influenced by the likes of Big Star, Teenage Fanclub and Sugar who write bright, bold songs that sound crisp throughout an album like ‘Raise High…’ However, Peachfuzz has something that other bands that play this same style of music don’t have, the vocals of Adam Jones. His voice is like gravel soaked in honey: rough but sweet, painful, yet melodic, and captivating with every lyric that comes from his mouth.

In addition to the album’s opener, standout tracks are ‘Nobody Else’, which has an intro that has shades of Dire Straits, ‘Over Me’, which has a beat that will force your head to bob and forget about speed limits as you continue to forge down the sun-soaked highway and ‘Highest Window’, which churns throughout its three minutes as Jones’ guitar soars.

Frankly, this whole album is very strong and is one that has been in constant rotation from the moment it sped its way through my ears. With the resurgence of this 90s-inspired college rock, there are many bands who are writing great music in the vein. However, Peachfuzz is the best-kept secret among them, and that secret is demanding to be heard. Hopefully, ‘Raise High Your Bright Halo of Stars’ will be booming in more cars down the motorway went it’s released this Summer.

JEFF