Review

Contending with the likes of Uffie’s delinquent skank-hop or The Teenagers’ kitsch Euro-filth, lately even Madonna’s vagina-heavy promos conjure more edgy revulsion than Peaches’ spartan electroclash and nasty, old-skool rapping; she’s been haemorrhaging novelty with every release. Modification is necessary, then, for her fifth album with Simian Mobile Disco man James Ford’s opulent craftsmanship enlisted to house her newfound feminine sensitivities. ‘Lose You’ is markedly vulnerable, ‘Talk To Me’ bemoans her persona for deterring romance, and the title track is a dejected disco-soul enigma where she might even let Johnny Safety-Word be on top.

It’s difficult to sympathise, though, when you’re facing a transdermal sex-crime everywhere else on the album. Naturally, Peaches is most entertaining when hunting startled man-candy, as on the lecherous ‘Mommy Complex’ and the Soulwax-produced ‘Showstopper’, in which her techno-punk wrath is righteously dispatched. On the Lil’ Kim-mugging ‘Billionaire’, she’s teamed with Yo! Majesty’s Shunda K; always ready with a uniquely smutty turn of phrase (“I’m a diamond in the muff / Big Trouble in Little Mangina”). All of which has the nutritional value of edible panties, but is as hook-ridden and instantly gratifying as is customary for Peaches. When interpolated with diva glamour and guarded emoting, the result is her most well-rounded offering yet. John Calvert

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DOWNLOAD: ‘SERPENTINE’, ‘SHOWSTOPPER’, ‘TALK TO ME’.
FOR FANS OF: SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO, UFFIE, HAR MAR SUPERSTAR.

Posted on: May 20, 2009