Peggy Sue

Lover Gone EP

Yep Roc

Jul 03, 2009 By Laura Studarus Bookmark and Share

Peggy Sue have terrible timing. For this trio of twentysomething musicians based out of Brighton England, their third EP Lover Gone will likely be compared to the work of another British upstart poised to make a stateside splash, Florence and the Machine. Peggy Sue simply don’t possess Florence’s chutzpah—still, they are not without undeniable charm.

While Lover Gone’s Spartan production quality does the material no favors, it’s clear that that under Peggy Sue’s laid-back, anti-folk veneer, the band boasts a good deal of untapped potential.  It’s the sound of best friends making music together, where everything-but-the-kitchen-sink percussion meshes with gently strummed guitars and minimalist piano accompaniment. While often repetitive, their simplicity never devolves into the love-it-or-leave-it kitsch that plagues band influences The Moldy Peaches and Kate Nash.

However, the greatest accolades go to the parlance of vocalists Rosa Rex and Katy Klaw, who manage to toss off lines such as, “Without pretense without purpose without dream or remorse/I gave you four years out of my twenty-four,” and “If you tell me my heart’s on fire, let it burn,” without veering into self-indulgence or overwrought territory. Although, one can’t help but wonder how Rex and Klaw’s Billie Holiday-like voices might sound when not hemmed in by such a simplistic frame. Rather than coast on charm alone, a little melodrama might be just what Peggy Sue needs to give comparison-happy reviewers something to really talk about. (www.myspace.com/peggysueandthepirates)

Author rating: 5/10

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Leslie Andrew Ridings
July 5th 2009
12:13am

I totally get what you mean when you say “the sound of best friends making music together.” I think their sound is really warm and strangely intimate. I don’t know. It feels like music at a house party and the band is having beers and talking between songs—I like it; but the production is really thin, as you said.

Thanks for the review, Laura.