Stereogum named indie rockers Peel Dream Magazine one of the Best New Bands Of 2020, but their first album Modern Meta Physic arrived in 2018. The band are honoring their early, early days with a new deluxe reissue of the record, complete with eight bonus tracks. Those include a demo of "Callers," which is out today.
Peel Dream's Joseph Stevens recorded these unreleased B-sides and demos at home between 2016-2017. Two of them were later fleshed out for Modern Meta Physic, while the other six predate that album. Stevens gives some context in a press release:
My taste was shifting heavily toward krautrock, droney 90s indie, and 60s stuff like the Velvet Underground and Nick Drake, which all melded into what I would characterize as the early Peel Dream Magazine sound. I started using my voice in a way that felt more natural to me and gravitated toward clean guitars and simple organ drones to create songs that didn’t “move” or develop like my previous ones did. I tried to stretch simple ideas into full songs without forcing myself to write proper endings, bridges, or any other ornamental flourishes I’d grown accustomed to. While the idea isn’t really that novel in the grand scheme of things, it was a major deal to me at the time. When I listen back to these songs, I hear all kinds of mistakes and half-cooked ideas, but I’m teleported to a special period where my life in New York really buzzed with possibility and wonder. Two songs - "Kaaterskill Trailhead" and "Modern Metaphysics" - are plucked directly from the month or two that I wrote and recorded Modern Meta Physic, and were cut only so that we could get the run-time of that record down. These really are “first waffles.” Sharing old stuff like that can be really weird and anxiety-producing, but it’s also really cathartic. I also think this is a fun way to put a spotlight on that album again, because people seem to be discovering it now more than ever, and it’s really cool to see that it resonates with people.
Listen to "Callers (Demo)" and see the reissue's tracklist below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Qi Velocity"
02 "Shenandoah"
03 "Art Today"
04 "Wood Paneling"
05 "Anorak"
06 "Living Room"
07 "Levitating Between 2 Chords"
08 "Deetjen's"
09 "Fires"
10 "Due To Advances In Modern Tourism"
11 "Interiors"
12 "Upper Body Calaesthetics"
13 "Don't Pick Up Slackers"
Digital-Only Bonus Tracks:
14 "Kaaterskill Trailhead"
15 "Callers" (Demo)
16 "Colour of Your Hair" (Demo)
17 "Mustard Yellow Carpet Ride" (Demo)
18 "Camel" (Demo)
19 "Magazine Diary" (Demo)
20 "Nardan Window Sill" (Demo)
21 "Modern Metaphysics"
Modern Meta Physic (Deluxe Edition) is out 1/31 via Slumberland.
