Luke Daniel Peacock is back with a new single ‘Give Me A Reason’, an 80s indebted, feverishly euphoric pop cut.
“A benefit of forced isolation was that I could go back and enjoy production styles and techniques that I was playing with as a teenager in my bedroom – using drum machines and sounds that weren’t restrained to a traditional band format,” explains Luke Daniel Peacock. “This song explores the emotions surrounding a person or people asking when enough is enough. It uses the analogy of an unbalanced personal relationship to examine deeper and broader forms of suffering, patience and self-worth.”
To celebrate the release of the track, we asked Luke to talk us through five of the records that have inspired his recent musical output. Chuck on the track below, and see what he had to say for himself.
Mo’Ju – Native Tongue
This album was a good study for me as an artist seemingly shifting from more traditional elements and going deeper into a digital world. Mo’Ju does it here with such brilliance. I also connected a lot with some of the subject matter that explores the more nuanced aspects of modern cultural issues.
Thelma Plum – Better In Blak
Love Pop?
Get the latest Pop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
I had to learn and perform the song ‘Better In Blak’ for a thing last year. Often when you do those kind of deep dives, it can affect your relationship with the song. Like you’re flying too close to the sun or something. It was kind of on the contrary for me. I loved it more and more and now I just love everything about it. It’s like the perfect pop song for mine and such a great debut album. I definitely took notes.
Future Islands – The Far Field
Like many others, I discovered Future Islands through their performance of Seasons on Letterman a few years back. It was such a breath of fresh air and immediately answered many questions I had about my own music moving forward, particularly because of the fact that there wasn’t a guitar in sight. I realised that I don’t have to touch a fucking guitar if I don’t feel like it. It was really liberating. When ‘The Far Field’ dropped I immediately embraced it and loved it. I don’t know – it’s beauty just made so much sense to me.
Grandaddy – Sumday
I’ve been a fan of Grandaddy for ages. As it was becoming inevitable that I would be trying to self-record and produce my songs at home, this album gave me more confidence in doing that. A lot of examples could be presented for this, but I admire Jason Lytle’s approach, his song writing and his disregard for what things should be. He is somewhat of a pioneer of it in the indie-rock world. It’s a reminder of the value of a good song over a fancy studio and producer. There’s a weird connection also in the fact that we were both young skaters that landed in music after an ACL injury. So that’s fun.
The Triffids – Calenture
I’ve always held this album as a kind of benchmark. As I’ve been experimenting and challenging myself to write simpler songs, I’ve found myself neglecting the lyrical side somewhat. David McComb was an actual poet, who just so happened to be an incredible singer in an incredible band. So if I feel I need to lift my word game, I go to this. So many amazing lyrics and so many great songs. Hometown Farewell Kiss, Trick Of The Light, Bury Me Deep In Love, Jerdacuttup Man.
