Vancouver-based band Peach Pit has gradually carved their niche with chilled out, everyday lyrics and a distorted guitar sound. For their recently released fourth album, Magpie, the band has been expanding and adding to their indie, relaxed sound. Listen to Magpie for an accessible and innovative example of modern indie rock.

Peach Pit possesses a rather more retrospective lens on this album, as demonstrated with its marketing. The branding on the band’s website is ’90s themed, as the quartet investigates the early-internet age. Almost responding to Fontaines D.C.’s Y2K branding for their recent post-punk rollick, Romance, Peach Pit have a softer, more surf-rock approach to the turn of the millennium.

Whilst Peach Pit always had a penchant for quiet indie stoner rock, their music was never fully acoustic. On Magpie, the band leaned into a different approach and wrote all manner of different songs. For example, “Did You Love Somebody” is completely acoustic, asking direct yet introspective questions. Here, rhythm guitarist and frontman Neil Smith is telling the listener not to go silent, requesting that he is allowed to “chew on all the things that you wanna tell me.” Presented as a reassuring yet jaded lullaby, this song seems to be Smith talking to himself. Also, Peach Pitsongs feature lyrics that seem to be unfinished lines. True to form, this song, pushing the listener to speak with confidence, finishes with the lyric “Right as you finish saying…”

“Did You Love Somebody” is a wonderful example of Peach Pit’s expanded sound. Answering his own question, “Did You Love Somebody” transitions into “St. Mark’s Funny Feeling,” which starts with, “You said that Sabbath day’s coming.” From a songwriting perspective, Smith’s ability to connect songs but have each of them stand alone is remarkable.

As a songwriter, Smith has found a fair amount of success from altering the perspective of his songs. “Tommy’s Party,” one of Peach Pit’s more popular and well-known songs, is written from the perspective of someone else talking to Smith the night after a party where Smith was far too drunk.

The theme of drunkenness, and looking back at a drunken early adulthood, returns with the titular song “Magpie.” Released as a single for the record, “Magpie’s” driving, twangy and sharp guitar from Lead Guitarist Christopher Vanderkooy immediately grabbed the attention. Tighter and more destructive than previous Peach Pit songs, “Magpie”tells the story of the person Smith believes he would have become had he not stopped drinking in early adulthood. The song opens with the line “Sippin’ up a tin can” and imagines this alternate version of Smith unable to “kick that old malaise / From his golden days.” Whenever Smith is writing about himself from an outside perspective, magic occurs.

For long-term Peach Pit fans, the classic, laid back and breezy guitar combined with some sad, catchy, everyday lyrics make their return. Long-term fans will also notice the innovative ideas, which create a bluesy sound on this record. “Yasmina,” is a song that initially takes its time, as Smith begins with “Yasmina, grab me there beside ya / Don’t ever wanna say you’re anything but mine-a.” Again, these laid back, straightforward lyrics are Peach Pit’s bread and butter, allowing the rest of the band to form a slow, rhythmic swing around Smith’s conversation. The song then evolves in both tempo and blues, culminating into a lively bluesy guitar solo from lead guitarist Vanderkooy.

Fortunately, Peach Pit always allows Vanderkooy the room for his guitar solos to breathe. As one of the more experimental guitar soloists of the present day, Vanderkooy frequently wows audiences with his aggressive, sharp and nimble guitar playing. “Yasmina” is a top-tier example of what Vanderkooy can do.

With their fourth LP, Smith and Peach Pit are more retro than ever. From their human centipede marketing, to their surprisingly grim lyrics (“Long Black Hair”), to their upbeat tone and airy sound, audiences are provided with a refreshing and steady window into Southern Canadian surf rock.