Peggy Gou - Once EP

Peggy Gou
Once EP
2018
Spotify

I don't know why but I like to explain where I found the artists that I review. I think it gives the reader a little peak behind the curtain to the way I find new music. To be fair it's an ad hoc process, listening to playlists, scrolling new releases and digging deep on websites, but I came across this new EP from Peggy Gou in a different way. I follow Virgil Abloh (fashion designer and House DJ) on Instagram and He posted a story from a festival in Europe. In the video Peggy is onstage DJing at this massive old factory. It's an amazing video from a pretty wild looking fest, but my main takeaway was just how fucking good this girl was. Her version of house unlike many others feels so fresh and exciting. Sometimes with House music you can be taken down this really dark path, leaving the music to exist in only one space, the club. This album however though almost a direct descendant of House, feels goofy and free. There is lightness that you don't often get, and a willingness to be nimble. On "It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)" we actually get her first foray into actually singing on a track. I know that statement will make a lot of House Heads cringe a little, but her vocal is fantastic and fits the track perfectly as she shifts from this almost whisper to a full voice sing. She also sings on the albums closer "Han Jan" asking you to "go all night" and "do it right" classic House statements that should feel dated but in her hands they feel new.

This EP is short at only three songs, but extends over almost 20 minutes. The songs shift and change throughout their over six minute run time. House music is one of the genres that I love that is the most difficult to write about. Some much of it is vibe and feeling that putting how the music moves you in a concrete way is often difficult. These three tracks just don't have enough distinct aspects to really dive in to what each means and what each is doing. You will still find elements from Afrika Bambaataa and other ecstatic 80s vibes yet the rubbery sounds still feels really modern. The drum snap and wiggly sound of "Hundred Times" is just psychedelic enough to give this record some real dimension. This is not House Music that is going to fade into the background of some generic club, this is dance music that actually matters.

7.9 out of 10