Album Review: Peaer – ‘A Healthy Earth’

Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff

Peaer is back with their latest full-length album, A Healthy Earth. The band’s previous releases have been heavily infused with melodic guitars and math-rock influences that stand out in the saturated indie-rock genre. Now signed to Tiny Engines, the band, spearheaded by Peter Katz, has put out their best songwriting yet with A Healthy Earth.

 Opening track, “Circle” is outstanding. With sound coming in waves, the tempo almost quite literally feels like a circle, completing loops of heavy guitars progressively diluting into simpler patterns. The songwriting on this track brings forth a heavier sound than on Peaer’s previous releases, and is a fantastic open to the album. 

Stand-out track, “Like You”, has Peaer’s signature math-rock style guitar riffs. Almost dream-like loops open the track to entice the listener. As the track progresses, the guitar opens up to a slightly heavier sound. Strumming down, and then up into the neck of the guitar, the sound loops around. Although Katz isn’t the most prolific writer, the group makes up for it instrumentally. The guitar solo at the end of the song almost speaks more emotionally than the lyrics, and provides a balance throughout the track. The breakdown after the solo is perfectly executed, as Katz plays his emotions through sound. To put it bluntly, the guitar work on this track is phenomenal.


“Don’t” is also a terrific example of how great the guitar work is on A Healthy Earth. The twangy riffs on this track take lead. As the guitar flows from the twang to a heavier sound, the lyrics also get a bit more aggressive. Again, Katz showing us how they certainly express their emotions sonically. As the track eases down, the loosened mess of the binding chords create a whispering effect. Almost like the instruments are echoing to each other as they then scream into a sonic explosion at the end of the track. 

A Healthy Earth is a guitarists’ dream album. The guitar is the voice throughout the entire album, even when Peter is singing and I am not mad about it. The album is masterful at how well it balances the four instruments used, and creates something truly harmonic. Peaer created an exciting work of sonic poetry that really puts them on the map.

Rating: Disappointing/Average/Good/Great/Phenomenal


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Sarah Knoll