The PepTides’s May 3rd pre-album release party for new album Love Question Mark at St Alban’s was a sexy technicolour lucid dream. It was a theatrical performance experience like no other, as this professional outfit puts its mark on Ottawa.
Rebecca and Olexandra.
The band has fallen into a chasm of synth and is having a dance party in the abyss of love. The performance can be likened to a cabaret show complete with shiny costumes, funky neon hair, fun props and new characters for every song. It reminds one very much of the 1994 film “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” the gender bending comedy of errors about two drag queens, a transsexual person and their lavender bus Priscilla travelling across the Australian desert. The scene with a group of Australian Aboriginal people where they all come together and sing “I Will Survive” is how I have come to think of Saturday’s show: a total love in.
The music from the new album Love Question Mark is like that from a colourful musical yet to be written. Similar to Stuart Murdoch’s God Help the Girl in that regard, which has now gone on to become a film. Some of the tracks are completely abstract, meant to create a mood like “Love You Forever” and “Love You Forever and Ever” while others are fully fledged stories like “Electrified Love,” “202 Love Washington DC,” “Love’s the Best Physician,” “Love Covet Us All” and “Love Spy” and others still are anthems like “Be happy how? Love” and “Live Love Get High”
Dale Waterman.
With word association lyrics that traverse the silly to the absurd to the poignant there are underlying messages about love to be taken away from the album. Namely, it is much more nuanced and unconventional than we give it credit. From love for hire to love as consumption, to addiction, obsession and anarchistic, nihilistic, illogistic, alchemistic love. With a collage of sound being created from found samples, like the one from a sex lesson in “Lie Next to Me and Love” with beautiful execution by DeeDee, there are levels and textures that create depth to the sound and experience of the music.
DeeDee Butters.
The double album with disks Electro Love and Retro Love is an ambitious collection. For me the starring song is “Polyamorous Love“ with its catchy beat and the soaring vocals in the refrain “love so good so far.” Title track “Love Lead us to Sanctuary” is also a synthy number with a surreal narration and beautiful siren-like vocals. I’m also partial to the song “I’m in Love” due to Rebecca Noelle’s impressive performance hitting crazy notes and singing in Spanish. For those who love soul check out Dale Waterman’s silky vocals on “God is Love.” “I Love You Made in China” features the fabulous voices of Olexandra and Claude and is a hilarious non sequitur of a song. However the star of the album and the show are Scott Irving’s perfectly placed synth notes that have you dancing to the beat of Love Question Mark.
The album’s efforts can be likened to the taboo raising but accessible work of Quebec singer Pierre Lapointe or infamous French singer Serge Gainsbourg like in his song “Je t’aime, … moi non plus.” So, If you love the absurd and the fun, the random and the theatrical pick up Love Question Mark by the PepTides, out yesterday May 6th.
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