Boy, OH BOY! If this isn’t overdue, nothing is. The trio of Isa, Declan and Mike, a.k.a Death By Indie, have been around the Wilmington DIY scene for quite a while, pumping out jovial art-punk tunes when they have time, and visibly enjoying doing so quite a bit. It's worth noting that each member is in at least one other band, but don't let the banter between songs or the lo-fi production fool you: Death By Indie put in the work on their first full-length. The record is a rock-solid portrait of the good vibes the band have worked hard to make their specialty.
The opener, My Little Fig Tree, is an otherwise jolly little tune with an instrumental rooted in hair-raising post-punk. Artsy lyrics and thumping drums are great focuses for an opener, playing at a couple of the band's strengths. The song is a quick cool breeze before the white-hot sun comes back out from behind a cloud - the rest of the record is far more joyous and direct with its energy. It's a great song to put first, working as a disclaimer: don't take anything on this record too seriously, lest you forget it's all about summer fun.
Take track 2, PUP, because while the song does in fact sound a bit like PUP (the band), there's a lot more going on. PUP is a bright, emotive, punk rock song with dynamic vocals from both Isa and Declan. Death By Indie plays hopscotch with major and minor tones, touting thrashing drums and raspy guitars, wrapped in lo-fi recording tones. Plus, DBI has been playing this one live for ages, so it's a relief to hear a studio version of the song that best typifies the band at long last. Following PUP, Geebreaker is a love song splitting its time with a cautionary tale, touting another rock-solid instrumental on all fronts. An instrumental much more solid than your average pipe. Be gentle with your glass doodads, my tree-smoking friends.
Track 4, Days are One, is the gang at their most sunblock slathered, straw-hat clad, and otherwise summer-ready. Isa's vocals are a deal-maker here, shining a light across some of the grimiest guitars on the album. Paired with Mike's splashier cymbals and less pedal-to-the-metal drumming than previous tracks, this song was clearly written with warm summer sunsets on the Brandywine River in mind.
Mistah Jake harkens back to DBI's favorite canine, Jazzy Jake! (See their Junk! EP) This time around Jake's labeled as the mister because, as any dog lover should know, that dog's gonna walk where he wants to! When he wants to! Heck, however he wants to! The wobbly guitar outro is definitely one of the wackiest tones Declan conjures with a six-string across the record. Song six, File Save, is another cautionary tale. It's also the last straight-shooting angst-powered punk song, giving way to something else. That something else being a song called I Don't Know What Music Is. (Do with that one what you will, it’s a doozy.)
The penultimate track. Tree Pee, shows another clear set of influences the band have made their own. Assumedly in the neighborhood of Mac Demarco or Joy Division, given the ever-so-indie wiggly guitars and muted, mellow vocals. This song especially makes me appreciate the love and care put into the mixing of Paeonia, because the mixing on Tree Pee is what makes this song work. Not only that, but it harkens back to Death By Indie's first EP, with a more ambient edge that the straightforward punk songs from Paeonia's A-side. X is the closer, building on the spacier guitar sounds of Tree Pee and bringing back some bits of the rest of the record to great effect, like a medley of sorts. The clanging mini-piano from I Don't Know What Music Is has returned, this time echoing like wind chimes on a windswept Wilmington front porch, closing things out on a sunswept, wistful note. (Side note: X is not a roman numeral ten, as it's the ninth track on the album - or maybe it is and the band pulled one over on me.)
Overall, Death By Indie's sound has been hugely refined since the 2 EPs they put out a while back, pulling all the threads left open and weaving them back into a concise picture of the band they want to be. The raspy guitars, toasty warm short-scale bass, and the thrash of cutting, bright cymbals, on tracks like Gee Breaker and File Save are all consistent with DBI's last EP, Junk!. Tree Pee, X, and Mistah Jake circle back to the ambient, almost surfy feel of the Self-Titled EP, with Paeonia touting a garage sale's worth of auxiliary instruments just like S/T to boot. Death By Indie’s playful lyricism paired with easy-to-grasp subjects make the tunes accessible but not infantile, playful but not mindless. Death By Indie have framed everything they do best, compressed it into a 25-minute package, and given it some of the coolest album art I've seen in ages to boot. Overall, Paeonia is worth checking out if you enjoy having fun and/or good punk rock!
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| https://deathbyindie.bandcamp.com/album/paeonia |
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