Singled Out: Whitacre's Peach

Denver-based trio Whitacre just released their new single "Peach" and to celebrate we asked Paul Whitacre to tell us about the song. Here is the story:

After years of writing sad songs about bad breakups, it was funny to see the band's reaction when I brought "Peach" to practice one night. I had met a girl that swept me off my feet a couple months prior, and after 2-3 dates, things were moving very quickly. I flew home to meet her family in December after we had started dating in November. Though I had been burned in the past, I felt sure about this relationship.

Shortly after that trip home, I picked up a guitar to continue working on songs for Whitacre's upcoming record. It came to my own surprise that the content at the front of my mind wasn't something sad or nostalgic, but something fresh and exciting. With that said, it was still a straight forward acoustic lovesong. I spent a few days trying to nail down the lyrics... I wanted to find a balance of honest and bold lyrics that offered something unique to the listener. Once I had those locked in, I took it to the band.

Within 5 minutes, the song had a huge anthemic drum beat, a couple of catchy riffs happening on lead guitar and banjo and a fat bassline to hold it together. We ran the song a couple of times and our banjo player, Chase, said something along the lines of, "That's the first positive love song I've ever heard you write." We all laughed about it a bit, but that was honestly a comment that shaped a lot of the rest of that record and even the songs we're writing today.

"Peach" was one of the more difficult songs for us to get right in the mixing stage. Our engineer, Yuuki Matthews, had to be patient with us as everyone in the band gave their input on which parts needed to be highlighted, etc. In the end, it's become one of our favorite songs on the record and one of the most exciting to play live.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself right here!