Peel Dream Magazine is the nom de plume of New York City-based musician Joe Stevens. A nod to BBC Radio 1 legend John Peel, arbiter of all things underground, Peel Dream Magazine is highly evocative of a certain strain of independent music. Stevens harkens back to the early 1990s, when The Velvet Underground resurged as an inspiration to a new set of bands wielding synthesizers, off-set guitars, and a political bent. The Peel Dream experience is defined by a gentle, fuzzy psychedelia —it’s a hypnotic bit of mod-ish lo-fi pop, recalling the best of early Stereolab, Lilys, and other shaggy haired kids with vintage fuzz pedals, slim trousers, and good record collections.
Written and recorded over a four-week period in the fall of 2017, Peel Dream Magazine’s debut album “Modern Meta Physic” fixates on the New Age universe of the Catskills region of New York. Stevens deals in esoteric bohemian fare — Far East philosophy, Native American tradition, mid-century modern cool — as he appraises the world according to privileged urban expats who increasingly call the upstate paradise home.
Leading off the album, “Qi Velocity” is a metronomic take on French pop that yields to a lush chorus reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian. “Deetjen’s,” named after the much-loved bed & breakfast in Big Sur, would fit snugly on Unrest’s best Teen Beat material. “Due to Advances in Modern Tourism” displays a soft take on Neu!, while the organ that enters could be a sly wink to Steve Reich’s “Four Organs.”
There is an economy to these tracks — everything is distilled down to it’s essential elements, no gestures are wasted, no superfluous ornamentation taking up space. While Stevens is more than happy to show his influences on his sleeve — mind you, they’re great influences — it’s clear Peel Dream Magazine isn’t just a “sound.” The guy can write songs. Where he goes next is anybody’s guess.
While the influence of John Peel has never been in doubt, we must admit we were a little surprised to hear that a young, New York based songwriter, would have named his band after the great man – yet that’s exactly what Joe Stevens did. That band, Peel Dream Magazine, are set to release their latest record, Modern Meta Physic in October, and listening to the latest cut from it, Qi Velocity, we are certainly transported back to late nights in the late 1990’s listening to that wonderful strain of indie music Mr Ravenscroft Senior used to play to us so regularly.
Peel Dream Magazine’s sound is a winning blend of pop-drenched melodies and fuzzy production, marking them out as part of the same lineage of The Velvet Underground through to Jesus & Mary Chain and Belle & Sebastian. The trick here, on Qi Velocity, is the way nothing is wasted, nothing is superfluous, just an expertly judged production that flows perfectly. Biting guitars provide bursts of energy one second, then warm buzzes of organs and electronic twinkles offer moments of dreamy escapism, the whole thing held together by Joe’s unwavering, almost unemotive vocal. Old influences, stitched together into a perfect modern tapestry, in our opinion, Peel Dream Magazine are doing music exactly the way it should be done.
Modern Meta Physic is out October 5th via Slumberland Records.
