“Peach Club” Album by Emarosa
If you enjoyed loved Paramore’s 2017 album After Laughter — or you generally like when rock bands abandon their roots in favor of a synth pop sound — then you’ll also enjoy Emarosa’s 2019 release, Peach Club.
I first heard about Emarosa a decade ago, back when they were a post-hardcore group with Jonny Craig as their vocalist, who had this impressively soulful style of singing but has turned out to be, uh, problematic as a person. (I’m pretty sure he’s been kicked out of every band he’s been a part of because of his substance abuse, amongst other things.)
Anyway, after their 2010 self-titled album and the subsequent falling out with Craig, I kinda stopped keeping up with the band. They had a couple other releases in the years since that I’ve yet to hear — with current vocalist Bradley Walden at the helm — but I only recently checked back in after reading about last year’s Peach Club, and I’m glad I did because it’s a fantastic listen.
This is one of those age-old cases where the band’s older fans are split between “love” and “hate” on this album, with very little middle ground. It’s not at all like their post-hardcore days — they’ve taken a turn into an unapologetically radio-friendly ’80s-style, which is 100% fine by me.
Many of the tracks sparkle with cascading synths, relentlessly upbeat vibes, funky guitar licks, and melodies so infectious they’d make Phil Collins proud. In short, I’m totally into it.
I mean, the chorus of “Cautious” alone is almost criminally irresistable:
Here’s the full track list, with 🌟s to denote my personal favorites:
| # | Track name | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Givin’ Up” | 🌟 |
| 2. | “Don’t Cry” | |
| 3. | “Cautious” | 🌟 |
| 4. | “Get Back Up” | |
| 5. | “So Bad” | 🌟 |
| 6. | “Help You Out” | 🌟 |
| 7. | “Xo” | 🌟 |
| 8. | “Hell of It” | |
| 9. | “Comfortable” | 🌟 |
| 10. | “Iw2dwy” | |
| 11. | “Wait, Stay” |
Really, my only complaint is that the album artwork is pretty weak. I would’ve gone with something appropriately bold and colorful to better advertise what the songs are like.
Get the album in these places: