Peals — the Baltimore duo of William Cashion (Future Islands) and Bruce Willen (Double Dagger) — return with twin releases on 31st July via Thrill Jockey. The Compound 76 arrives as a limited LP, while Le Pantoum 46 will be issued digitally. Ahead of both, the pair have shared Essential Attitudes, a single from The Compound 76 captured in crystalline detail by engineer Craig Bowen (Lungfish, Animal Collective, Dan Deacon) at the Baltimore art collective space The Compound. It folds warped, twinkling textures into melodic starlight, expanding and collapsing beneath a steady pulse.
Both albums document live performances in artist-run rooms separated by three years and a continent. Le Pantoum 46 was recorded in 2013 at Le Pantoum, a long-running DIY space in Quebec City partly run by friend of the band Jean-Michel Letendre Veilleux, during a North American tour with Small Sur that followed Peals’ debut Walking Field. Andy Abelow, then of Small Sur, joined the duo on that tour and plays saxophone on Blue Elvis and Floating Leaf — both Walking Field originals — beginning a collaboration that would continue on subsequent Peals records. Willen elaborates:
“When playing in venues that would more typically host noisy rock bands, Peals took what I might describe as an ‘aggressively quiet’ approach, often starting our sets super minimally and at very low volume, to force a level of attentiveness from the audience. Even though this was something new, the Quebec City audience keyed in very quickly. (The world hadn’t totally fried our brains with social media yet!) And the room truly reshaped itself around the music we were making.”
The Compound 76, recorded three years later in September 2016, captures the band’s next-to-last show before what Currin describes as “what we can hope is only a decade-long pause.” His liner notes place the 38-minute set alongside Manuel Göttsching’s E2-E4, Cluster and Eno’s Cologne dalliances, and “the way Midwest Emo could sound smarter than its lyrics read,” while also hearing bits of old spirituals and Appalachian banjo music nested inside the guitars. Currin also recalls the duo’s signature stage prop — a thrift-store table lamp set between them — which made each show feel like an invitation into a living room. Coming hot on the heels of the digital reissue of Seltzer, both records arrive as what Currin calls “an antidote” — relevant, welcoming, welcome.
Pre-order Peals’ The Compound 76:
https://www.thrilljockey.com/products/the-compound-76
Pre-order Peals’ Le Pantoum 46:
https://www.thrilljockey.com/products/le-pantoum-46