Peaches: Impeach Her Bush

The controversial role flippin' Peaches is back with a third album guaranteed to make you blush

Feature by Alex Burden | 15 Jul 2006
She's back and she's as filthy as ever. The DIY electro-punk has given birth to her delightfully entitled third LP, 'Impeach My Bush' (XL Recordings) – fitting given that the fold-out poster that accompanies the release shines a light, ahem, on her au naturale downstairs grooming tendencies.

The follow-up to 'Fatherfu*cker' and 'The Teaches of Peaches' starts with a stark statement set to funky beats: "I'd rather f*ck who I want, than kill who I'm told to." The "Peaches way of questioning power structures through the medium of sex," apparently, and that overtly sexual theme is prevalent throughout 'Impeach...' as she tackles role reversals and those delicate little bedroom questions.

A booty-popping hip-hop backdrop keeps the album moving along at pace, mixed with the rawer equipment sounds of original analog Moog gear, Gibson guitars, early drum machines, and Marshall amps. The first single taken from 'Impeach...' is the mellow Downtown, which has a Goldfrapp flavour to it and thinly-veiled urban landscape innuendo. Peaches' sound errs dangerously close to the mainstream this time around, but she remains an outsider on lyrical merit alone: very few musicians take the opportunity to publicly and vocally express their delight at requesting that two men have sex for their voyeuristic pleasure.

The punkier tones of her work are emphasised through thrashed guitar and abrasive electro-pop-tech; the riot grrl stylee shines through on You Love It, and the ghettotech nuances of Stick it To The Pimp finishes off the album with a snarl. It is not musically advanced or complex, but the simple and effective nature of the beats compensates for this lack. Peaches will be taking her show in a slightly different direction by creating a live punk experience with her new four-piece all girl band. The line-up features the former drummer and guitarist of Courtney Love; Samantha Maloney and Radio Sloan, and is completed by Le Tigre's JD Samson on keytar and sequencing. They kick off their upcoming tour in the US with Nine Inch Nails and Bauhaus, before coming over to play the Carling Reading and Leeds festivals this August.
Impeach My Bush' (XL Recordings) is out on July 10th.