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KENZY PEACH’S BRIC A BRAC BABY ALBUM RELEASE SHOW, The Virgil, Los Angeles, April 6, 2024.
Look up Kenzy Peach on Spotify, and you’ll find this bio: “Kenzy Peach is a friend to all big-hearted weirdos and unsettling women! Kenzy Peach is too much! Kenzy Peach needs to know—are you receiving her psychic messages?” Never fear, Kenzy Peach—the answer is a resounding yes.
I became familiar with Peach’s debut LP Bric a Brac Baby through her Instagram page. There, the singer-songwriter’s big heart is evident in every post, down to the recurring Q and As in her Stories. Her captions, which often serve as mini-essays reflecting on the artist’s life, make me wish she wrote for an advice column; thankfully, her lyrics provide a similar fount of insight. When she shared a flier for her Los Angeles album release show the first weekend in April, I immediately saved the date. And so I found myself at the Virgil on Saturday night, shimmying toward the stage to get a better glimpse of Peach’s outfit: a “World’s Best Ex-Girlfriend” T-shirt, a denim skirt, and fishnets paired with striking blue eye shadow.
Peach kicked off the evening with a pleasant surprise: an unreleased track titled “I Think I Get It Now.” Before she struck the opening chords, Peach explained how the song was about realizing years later that “the twentysomething guy who hung around you when you were a teen was actually a loser and a pervert”—a line that drew a chorus of all-too-knowing laughs from the audience.
Over the course of the night, Peach revealed a knack for identifying hyperspecific scenarios that listeners could relate to. She introduced one song by announcing, “This one is about someone who definitely has me muted on Instagram.” There was no shortage of wisecracks about crushing on “niche Internet microcelebrities” (turns out Peach has dated two). These quips hit especially hard in a room of Angelenos—haven’t we all at least made awkward eye contact with an indie sleaze DJ or Twitter-famous comedian at a bar?
Peach proved just as effusive IRL as she is online. She expressed compassion and goodwill toward the subjects of her songs—this as audience members playfully booed the exes featured in her verses—and sagely remarked that “closure is not about getting the answers to your questions” but accepting that you may never know them. (Again, holding out hope for that advice column …)
The show reached its emotional apex with a cover of Dido’s “White Flag.” The song holds sentimental value for Peach, as it was one of the first tracks she ever listened to on her Walkman. Even without this context, though, the performance would have been moving—Peach’s soulful vocals intensified Dido’s declarations of devotion to a long-lost lover, just as abject today as they were 20 years ago.
“Come for Me,” Peach’s most popular single thus far, concluded the set. “I will not rest until the whole world has fallen in love with me,” the artist crooned, her voice melding with the shouts of fans. If the crowd’s response was any indication, she’s on the right path—Los Angeles, at least, is already smitten.
Photo of Kenzy Peach by contributor.
LARB Short Take live event reviews are published in partnership with the nonprofit Online Journalism Project and the Independent Review Crew.
Look up Kenzy Peach on Spotify, and you’ll find this bio: “Kenzy Peach is a friend to all big-hearted weirdos and unsettling women! Kenzy Peach is too much! Kenzy Peach needs to know—are you receiving her psychic messages?” Never fear, Kenzy Peach—the answer is a resounding yes.
I became familiar with Peach’s debut LP Bric a Brac Baby through her Instagram page. There, the singer-songwriter’s big heart is evident in every post, down to the recurring Q and As in her Stories. Her captions, which often serve as mini-essays reflecting on the artist’s life, make me wish she wrote for an advice column; thankfully, her lyrics provide a similar fount of insight. When she shared a flier for her Los Angeles album release show the first weekend in April, I immediately saved the date. And so I found myself at the Virgil on Saturday night, shimmying toward the stage to get a better glimpse of Peach’s outfit: a “World’s Best Ex-Girlfriend” T-shirt, a denim skirt, and fishnets paired with striking blue eye shadow.
Peach kicked off the evening with a pleasant surprise: an unreleased track titled “I Think I Get It Now.” Before she struck the opening chords, Peach explained how the song was about realizing years later that “the twentysomething guy who hung around you when you were a teen was actually a loser and a pervert”—a line that drew a chorus of all-too-knowing laughs from the audience.
Over the course of the night, Peach revealed a knack for identifying hyperspecific scenarios that listeners could relate to. She introduced one song by announcing, “This one is about someone who definitely has me muted on Instagram.” There was no shortage of wisecracks about crushing on “niche Internet microcelebrities” (turns out Peach has dated two). These quips hit especially hard in a room of Angelenos—haven’t we all at least made awkward eye contact with an indie sleaze DJ or Twitter-famous comedian at a bar?
Peach proved just as effusive IRL as she is online. She expressed compassion and goodwill toward the subjects of her songs—this as audience members playfully booed the exes featured in her verses—and sagely remarked that “closure is not about getting the answers to your questions” but accepting that you may never know them. (Again, holding out hope for that advice column …)
The show reached its emotional apex with a cover of Dido’s “White Flag.” The song holds sentimental value for Peach, as it was one of the first tracks she ever listened to on her Walkman. Even without this context, though, the performance would have been moving—Peach’s soulful vocals intensified Dido’s declarations of devotion to a long-lost lover, just as abject today as they were 20 years ago.
“Come for Me,” Peach’s most popular single thus far, concluded the set. “I will not rest until the whole world has fallen in love with me,” the artist crooned, her voice melding with the shouts of fans. If the crowd’s response was any indication, she’s on the right path—Los Angeles, at least, is already smitten.
¤
Photo of Kenzy Peach by contributor.
LARB Short Take live event reviews are published in partnership with the nonprofit Online Journalism Project and the Independent Review Crew.
LARB Contributor
Brittany Menjivar was born and raised in the DMV; she now works and plays in the City of Angels. With her partner in crime Erin Satterthwaite, she runs Car Crash Collective, hosting late-night literary readings at Footsies Bar in Los Angeles. Her poetry and fiction have been featured in HAD, Dream Boy Book Club, Spectra, and Dirt Child, among other publications. Additionally, she was named a 2023 Best of the Net Award Finalist. You can stream her short film Fragile.com on YouTube’s ALTER Channel, where it has nearly two million views. You can also find her on Substack: she posts cultural criticism via BRITTPOP, and keeps track of the most exciting events happening in L.A. each week via The Angel Almanac.
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