Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis complete each other musically, she with a knack for crafting solid pop structure and he filling in the framework with textures of heady electronic sounds and noise. “Beautiful Son” is a heartwarming wake-up lullaby to their infant son, Mikko. There is no percussion, putting twangs of psych blues guitar and tinkering of bright piano in center focus. The guitar and piano feels almost americana. Synthesized tones chirp like robot birds above Indra’s romantically maternal vocals: “beautiful son, smiling light, good morning son, sunshine.” This track puts the listener in the cradle, allowing one to feel younger or even newborn. In 2011, Peaking lights released the very hot 936 on the spiritualist Not Not Fun records. Completely chopped in delay and humid with reverb, 936 was a steamy almost-dub album built off of jungle dance beats and reggae bass. 2012’s Lucifer cools down in comparison. The track “Cosmic Tides” flips between ambient chill-house tones and island flutes atop organ shuffle; “Lo Hi” blends cold airy vocals, a clapping chill-wave beat and even sampled baby-talk of son Mikko.
Many of the sampled sounds in peaking lights are hand-crafted. Aaron gathers up used drum machines, alarm clocks, pedals, and any other noise-making device he can obtain, then circuit bends and rewires them to his own liking. Taking apart these devices, rearranging the wiring and connecting them to different points results in Coye’s personalized sound library. “(I buy devices from) thrift stores, things like that. If I’m going out with something specific I want to build of course I look for the most variables, I need more of the components that change the sound rather than create the sound,” says Coye. This allows him to choose which sonic textures fit best and layer them over the rest of the music. Atop the music these sounds still feel organic, and the custom-made authenticity of the electronics sets Peaking Lights apart from the rest.
Peaking Lights is psych pop that is not afraid to experiment, literally creating a signature sound. Aaron and Indra are role models for a new weird american dream, two people starting a family together and still doing what they want to.