Brooklyn baroque shoegazers Peel Dream Magazine have shared another track from their upcoming album Agitprop Alterna which is out April 3rd via Slumberland Records. “Emotional Devotion Creator” chugs along at a quick motorik pace with more than a little Stereolab in there. Frontman Joe Stevens says the song is about “personal liberties and manipulation,” explaining, “an ‘Emotional Devotion Creator’ is a marketer or brand that tries to get you to feel attached to a product in order to get you to buy it. The song is asking, ‘where do you draw the line?’ Does everything have to be something special? Am I supposed to buy my way through everything now?’”
Peel Dream Magazine is the musical vehicle for NYC’s Joe Stevens, who launched the band in 2018 with the critically acclaimed album “Modern Meta Physic,” a mysterious, liminal tribute to the hazy end of ‘90s dream-pop that found its place on numerous “Best of 2018” lists. Now Peel Dream are back with “Agitprop Alterna,” an album that pays homage to the fuzzy, mod-ish pop of acts like My Bloody Valentine and early Stereolab, but it’s also indebted to stateside bands like Yo La Tengo and Rocketship that were cut from a similar cloth. “Agitprop Alterna” finds Stevens channeling the collaborative spirit of the band’s live incarnation in the studio, deepening the connection between the existential and the interpretive first explored on “Modern Meta Physic.” It is a rejection of manipulation in all its forms and a buzzsaw against complacency; it’s a rare trick to agitate without being obvious, and perhaps that makes “Agitprop Alterna” the most Peel Dream Magazine-like statement yet.
Taken from Agitprop Alterna, out 4/3/20 via Slumberland Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 