Ill Peach Breaks Down Their Debut EP 'Excuse Us While We Find Our Minds'
Excuse Us While We Find Our Minds is a collection of stories that came from our experience together moving from New York to Los Angeles. They weren't necessarily meant to live together, but when we put them in the same room we realized a common thread. The songs are just different versions of us just trying to find our place in this world. Beginning from a place of unorganized chaos (New York) to slowly finding our way (Los Angeles). Each song was impulsively written. No preconception behind it. Just guttural. So sonically and lyrically it's all very colorful and raw to us.
"Gum"
"Gum" is about 2 kids who go to a diner to escape all the bullshit. It was inspired by a real place in Minneapolis that we used to go to after all ages shows called "Hard Times Cafe." It's open 24 hours a day. It's legendary. The concept came from us joking about how life sometimes is like a piece of gum. Once it loses its flavor you spit it out and hide it somewhere and pop in a new piece. The song reflects that. It's all about keeping perspective and remembering the two kids in the diner. Not letting the worn-out piece of gum define it all. Plus, gum has an unusual imagery to it and we're always pushing for that.
"Wildfire"
"Wildfire" is about the dynamics of relationships. The ebbs and flows of how you can be close to someone one day and not talking the next. Also, in between our time in NYC and LA, there were some major wildfires happening. One of them burned down a piece of property that Jess's family owned in Wyoming. That fire sparked this weird tension in the family. So the song displays this sort of angsty tantrum of just being done with someone at a moment in life. It's our flip over the couch and make a mess song.
"Need You Now"
This song is the most personal song. For a few years, Jess was really going through it. Particularly smoking a lot of weed as a coping mechanism and heavy bouts of anxiety and depression. It was odd to be in Los Angeles, where everyone hid behind a facade. Either on the internet or in real life. It was hard to find human connection. When we started writing the song we thought we were talking about needing something to fix the pain and the depression like anti-depressants, but by the end we realized it’s about having those people in your life to help you see the light at the end of the tunnel. While listening you feel the emotional imbalance and uncertainty. The pain and the tenderness. The numbness and the need for it all to be over. We explored a lot of sound design with this one to create that tension and release throughout the entire flow of the song. It's such a raw piece of music that still resonates with us and brings us back to that period of time.
"Up Up and Away"
"Up Up and Away" is about this past New Year's Eve. It felt weird to celebrate a new year when everything felt exactly the same as the previous one. So we wanted to make something that could transport you somewhere else for a moment. Something filled with beautiful chaos and emotional noise. Because that's what this project does for us right now. You can close your eyes and let go of shit just for a second.
