It’s hard not to view the world through rose tinted glasses when Peach PRC’s debut album is finally here! As her first full-length album nearly a decade into her career, Porcelain is a thrilling introduction to the woman behind the fairy wings. This record revolves around religion and spirituality, visualising earth as an “oasis” where Peach has finally found her purpose. It also explores the hardest parts of the human experience, diving into Peach’s history with alcoholism and drug abuse, family trauma, sex work and queer identity.
Porcelain as a title refers to Shaylee Curnow’s original stage name. “PRC” abbreviates Porcelain, the surname she used whilst performing as a stripper in her young adulthood. Here, it perfectly describes the album’s dance between the Peach PRC character and Shaylee’s true self. The cold, manmade textures “porcelain” calls to mind also deliberately contrast the record’s actual focus on the grounded, earthly world.
Like a siren, Peach PRC lures listeners into her woodland soundscape on the luscious opener ‘Piper’. Her vocal shudders and distorts as she tells her folklore tale of finding the forest, and realizing nature held answers for her life. It’s this record’s core narrative, highlighting both the fantasy and reality of being human.
The album’s explorations of spirituality make for an interesting pivot from arguably Peach’s biggest hit, 2022’s ‘God Is A Freak’. Whereas she once wondered aloud why she’d “spend eternity” following religion, on Porcelain cut ‘Eucalyptus’, Peach now acknowledges personal growth in a newfound connection to spirituality. “I know that I said all that shit about God / I think it probably pissed Him off,” she sighs, before declaring nature to “be my religion”. She relays her search for a higher power through light vocals and dreamy synths. This connects to ‘Oasis’ where she views the whole world as a paradise at her beck and call. It’s all about fantastical, excessive lyrics, painting a rainbowed picture in the listener’s mind.
Extending the colourful imagery, it’s surprisingly taken seven years into her career for Peach PRC to dedicate a song to her favourite colour. ‘Pink’ is perhaps her most vulnerable song to date. The lyrics explore how pink became a visual comfort as Peach moved out of her childhood home and processed traumatic family experiences from her past. This number is soft and earnest, with a chorus melody that feels like driving down the highway as a beautiful sunset explodes. It’s catchy, but the upbeat pop direction hides an intense emotional truth.
That difficult family background ties into how Peach frequently writes to and about her inner child. Here, she visits her younger self on ‘Hold It For Her’, a single she describes as “conceptual”. Future Peach visits present Peach to share what she misses from this time of her life, allowing her to appreciate the now. These full-circle moments and musings upon seeing ourselves as different people throughout our lives resolves on the moving album closer ‘Shirley Barber’. Sampling nostalgic Disney audiobooks from the 90s in the song’s opening, Peach shouts out the beloved titular fantasy artist, through lyrics depicting a child’s imaginary friend releasing them into adulthood. Despite this heartbreaking undercurrent of innocence lost, there’s still a sense of hope that growing up might bring even more magical adventures.
Porcelain also makes an effort to perfect Peach’s signature sound across its twelve tracks. Frequently, the vocals rely on thick, intentional autotune to make her voice sound full and otherworldly. It’s at its best on ‘I Wouldn’t Mind’, a smooth, sweet ballad presenting Peach as a safe space for queer people who feel isolated by societal expectations and religion. “I’ll find the devil and make him a deal / I’ll fight the man in the sky if he’s real”, she insists. The hyper-produced pop sound strips back in the song’s final moments, opting for a more lo-fi, voice memo finale highlighting Peach’s raw voice. Later, she dissects how queer relationships so often live behind closed doors on acoustic ballad ‘Out Loud’. The delicate plucked guitars underscore Peach comparing her secret love to a faith. “My baby’s proud, sweet and devout / If I’m patient, one day she’ll love me out loud”.
Outside of the record’s softer moments, the album pushes towards grittier soundscapes on cuts like ‘Back To You’. This track disguises itself as longing for an ex, but gradually, the metaphor reveals itself to be about addiction, something Peach often opens up about on her TikTok. The song’s 2000s pop-punk influence shines through and shows Peach’s willingness to broaden her artistry.
As for Porcelain’s depiction of Peach’s important artistic past in sex work, ‘Miss Erotica’ and ‘The Palace’ function as core parallels. Where ‘Miss Erotica’ lyrically tackles the highs of dancing, dressing up and making big money each night,‘The Palace’ collapses into a tragic comedown, admitting how the work environment affected Peach’s self-worth. Peach’s description of “cheetah print floors”, “coconut tan” and “smoke stains” wear down the bright and bombastic image of Peach’s former club “Crazy Horse”, to unveil how sex work can be a truly dark place beyond the glitz and glamour.
Every version of the Peach PRC character, from the Crazy Horse club’s Peach Porcelain to the personable Shaylee Curnow who lives in the real world alongside us, makes an appearance in the album’s accompanying live show. To support Porcelain’s release, Peach recently completed the Wandering Spirit Tour across Australia and New Zealand.
Attendees at Wellington’s Shed 6 were treated to a spectacular show on March 28th. Fans turned up in all shades of pink, adorned in sparkles and plastic jewellery, with plenty of friendship bracelets to trade. The air fizzed with anticipation as they prepared to hear the album live ahead of its official release.
Under the lights, Peach’s stage sparkled, covered in foliage and glitter. She made her dramatic entrance by pole dancing to ‘Piper’ with careful precision. Her delicate, thoughtful moves aligned alongside two back-up dancers backlit by glowing visuals of flowers, fairies and heavenly creatures. Each tour stop featured a new outfit inspired by a different plant, and this show scored a gorgeous purple and green ensemble resembling a moon orchid. From this angelic opening, the audience were whisked out of reality into another world entirely.
The setlist focused on upcoming Porcelain tracks, with standouts including the hectic energy of ‘Miss Erotica’ and the earnest, bittersweet emotion of ‘Shirley Barber’. Older hits like ‘God Is A Freak’ saw total reinvention as slower ballads with moodier instrumentation. And perhaps the most unique moment of the night was when Peach brought out a pot plant she’d bought that day at Bunnings. Attaching mysterious wires to the leaves, she explained that through electrodes and an omnichord, she can play the plant and allow it to “sing” with her for ‘Eucalyptus’.
From moving ballads to more upbeat dance numbers, showcasing Peach’s growing talents in classic pop girl choreography, the show covered all the lows and highs of the new Porcelain era. Peach also notably made an effort to let the crowd into her thought process creating the album, revealing the imaginary friend storyline of ‘Shirley Barber’ in a particularly intimate moment that saw the venue fall quiet in awe.
And in spite of Peach moving away from her older, campier lyrical style, Peach still paid respect to the fan favorites already developed over her extensive career, by closing the tour with a medley of her biggest hits ‘Josh’, ‘Blondes’ and ‘Like A Girl Does’. This high-energy moment felt like a natural conclusion, especially for her first headlining tour in Aotearoa. The fanbase of “silver cans” felt rewarded with their top Peach tracks, but also felt welcomed into a new era where the Peach character is no longer larger than life, but just as real as us all, here sharing the same earth.
Porcelain is a radical new direction for Peach PRC. It’s earnest, peaceful and considerate, unveiling a woman who beneath the colours and pixie dust, is seeking answers just like us.
