The most remarkable aspect of
the Peaces' debut album is the young trio's easy-as-breathing three-part harmony, which is straight out of the '60s/'70s playbook of folks like
the Hollies,
the Left Banke,
America and
the Raspberries. The low-key, pleasantly catchy, soft pop tunes are mostly by Paul Stingo and Brian Halverson, working separately; neither is a particularly distinctive or original songwriter, and as a result, Is, Are, Was, Were primarily works as an unapologetic homage to the standard-bearers of a certain strain of relentlessly polite AM radio-friendly pop that hasn't been heard much in the musical mainstream since
Badfinger broke up. The tunes are jangly, generally mid-tempo or below, and crisply if somewhat unimaginatively arranged to showcase their occasional resemblances to great pop hits of the past. The dramatic "Dahlia," for example, strongly recalls
Eric Carmen's fondness for over the top ballads. Pop underground fans with a yen for the glory days when Wings,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Todd Rundgren and the pre-disco
Bee Gees walked tall on the pop landscape will find
Is, Are, Was, Were an acceptable simulacrum of soft pop circa 1973, but the blatant hero worship of
the Peaces might turn off those who prefer bands who don't sound like the sum totals of their record collections. ~ Stewart Mason