An immersive world of music
Releasing on all platforms on October 7th, 2022, Peel Dream Magazine’s Pad rides the coattails of their successful 2nd LP release occurring in 2020. Yet, with one of the band members departing from the group, this album tells the story of the group picking up the pieces and trying to carry on after his absence. This thematic storytelling is even seen on the album cover, with a little paragraph describing these events. A line that describes the energy that exudes off of the album is the final part of the paragraph, stating, “All alone he sips his tea, burns his incense, scrolls his TV. And peering out before the fore, longs to make it back once more.” All of the tracks that are featured on the album are reminiscent of this statement of tranquility but yet of loss and longing.
A great example of Pad in action is quite literally describing the departure of the group members in the first track of the album, “Not in the Band.” There are no words in this song, yet with its melancholy cordial structures and electronica synth there doesn’t need to be. Setting the mood for the rest of the album, it sets a placeholder for a standard that the rest of the album is able to follow. This is furthered by the featuring of descending chords that are used over the higher perfect 5ths. Although the song is more melancholic, it perfectly captures the feeling of losing something or feeling like something is falling away. It is a quaint yet simple way to open up what the rest of the album has in store.
Juxtaposing the first track of the album, “Pictionary” is a more upbeat and faster tempo track that is still lighter in instrumentation and features soft lyrical tones by lead singer Joe Stevens. One compositional feature that the song utilizes that is particularly interesting is the use of the melody line staying stagnant on one pitch as the chords change around it. This of course is not a groundbreaking feature in composition, but it changes the focus towards the shifting (once again descending cordial structures) as the melody is no longer the main focus. This is only for a small section of the song, but it remains an interesting technique that appears a few other times in Pad in various tracks. “Pictionary” is also the most popular track streamed currently, and it is easy to see why. With easy to listen to progressions and soft vocals of Stevens, the song is a standout on the album so far. Other strong hits that follow this pattern on the album are tracks such as “Wanting and Waiting,” “Pad” and “Hiding Out.”
Overall, with complex composition techniques and strong editing to create a smooth melancholy cycle of sound, Peel Dream Magazine’s Pad is able to get the group out of the rut and create a brand-new face for their band.
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