- Peachlyfe channels trance and outré techno into a cosmic exploration of gender and genre.
- The right to roam is a tradition from pre-modern Europe that allowed people to walk across open countryside, even if it was owned privately. Although there are constant attempts to do away with it, these legal frameworks still exist across large swathes of Northern Europe and the UK. More than just a boon for avid hillwalkers, the principles behind the right to roam point to an egalitarian past, a way of tapping into an unbounded commons that years of extractive capitalism has slowly tried to erase. Peachlyfe's debut album, Permission to Roam, draws both its title and ideas from the ancient concept. The album is accompanied by a 35-page graphic novel co-authored with the artist Cru Encarnação that follows two lovers on an imaginary quest through space. At the heart of this journey, and the record, is the limitless fantasy of roaming, a way of channelling a sonic utopia unbounded by the gravities and logics of gender and genre.
Each of these tracks—from the dance floor tunes to the experiments in sound design—are unbounded by any sort of generic rules or, indeed, even linear progression. "Go Up" starts out as cavernous dubstep with melodies darting like deflating balloons. But then a series of broken piano chords and snare fills turn the track into something like a Numbers release from the Rustie era. The curiously delicate synthesizer that begins "Let's Go Shopping" hints at an ambient comedown, before one of the record's goofiest hard house kicks locks in. Lest we get too comfortable, the track slowly disintegrates into a series of strange vocal samples for over a minute.
Peachlyfe has built their name making contemporary trance as part of Copenhagen's fast techno scene, but this is a heavier and weirder strand, with darker references than the Eurodance euphoria of producers like DJ Heartstring or horsegiirL. "Exit" pulses and slithers with the bass and synths filtered and muted until the tune's second half. Even then, the almost drop of the track feels like running uphill on a treadmill where you can never quite reach that synthetic peak. "The New Swing," on the other hand, goes from gentle strings to creeping synths that sit somewhere between Mor Elian and Quest. There's a hint of trance euphoria on "Sentient Intent" before an extended trap breakdown claws it back to earth.
Peachlyfe's constant zig-zagging through ideas and tempos is playful, rather than jarring. Similarly, the graphic novel that accompanies the release doesn't feel like an attempt to overly intellectualise club music. The story ends with the two lovers going shopping for new clothes. This unadulterated fun is what holds Permission to Roam together—it's a kaleidoscope of dopamine hits.
Tracklist01. Exit
02. Entry
03. Poetry, Dream, Domination, Erotic
04. Go Up
05. Hot Mug Metropolis
06. The New Swing
07. Sentient Intent
08. Let's Go Shopping