Melody Maker
August 24, 1996

And on the fifth play, I realised that "On My Own" is actually heartbreaking. This came as a thrill, as ever, but no great shock. By that point, it already had the possibility of meaning everything to me anyway.

"If people hear a great pop record," says Lisa Lamb, "it speaks to them whatever situation they're in. I don't now how many times I've heard a song and gone 'That's written for me! Oh My god!.' Even when I go back and listen to songs from when I was 14, they still move my heart. They become markers for your own life".

"On My Own" is a song about personal destiny. It belongs, more than anywhere, on the radio, as part of the public consciousness, even though it knocks you for six. Like Saint Etienne, Peach create perfect, composite settings, somewhere between mansfield and Monte Carlo, bonding kitchen sink drama and cosmopolitan glitz. You'll recognise it - an epiphany, an elevation of the everyday.

Lisa: "Emotions are complex, but it's a matter of taking those and distilling it to the lowest common denominator. If a song has a ring of truth to it, that ring of truth is the most beautiful sound in the world." You'll recognise that too.

JONATHAN SELZER

Melody Maker
November 30, 1996

It started not with a kiss, but a single. Two weeks ago Peach's "On My Own" bounced onto my CD player and filled my living room with exuberant, uplifting, joyful sounds; a bit St. Etienne, obviously, but in a way it brought back memories of some of the Eighties' more glorious failures - Strawberry Switchblade, or Eighth Wonder's version of the Pet Shop Boys' "I'm Not Scared", wherein Patsy Kensit practised the sort of heavenly wailing she'd later reserve solely for ears of Liam Gallager.

A fortnight on, I find myself waiting for Peach in a crowded Apollo where they're third on the bill to Erasure. Out of the shadows come two bods, two synths and a chanteuse.

Pascal is Belgian, used to be in S-Express and will happily discuss everything from Magzine to the therpeutic power of percussion. Paul hails from Mansfield and the first four Brian Eno albums are his favourite records of all time. The chanteuse is Lisa, whose obvious attractions (think mid-period Debbie Harry) comes coupled with a slightly tragic quality which may or may not have something to do with the fact that she's been through jazz singing and globetrotting but doesn't have a boyfriend. But then it all makes sense - Peach create loveliness from loneliness, pleasure out of pain.

"On My Own" soars tonight, a hymn to personal determination and with an unmistakable echo of Phil Spector's "Baby I Love You".

But does their story have a happy ending? I leave it to you to write.

DAVE SIMPSON