Peaking Lights

Husband-and-wife duo Peaking Lights combine elements of dub, Krautrock, disco, and psychedelic pop in their unique brand of cosmic music. Initially making spaced-out experiments and improvisations, they established a dub-influenced lo-fi pop sound with the acclaimed 2011 full-length 936. Later efforts such as 2014′s Cosmic Logic and 2020′s E S C A P E explored synth pop and house influences, and were much more cleanly produced, yet still retained the dreamy, homemade charm of their earlier work.
Indra Dunis (of Dynasty and Numbers) and Aaron Coyes were bandmates in the Bay Area band Rahdunes before forming a home-recording project using a drum machine, a Hammond organ, a guitar, and thick bass grooves. They made their debut in 2008 with several limited-edition tapes and CD-Rs, including releases on the well-regarded Night People label as well as collaborations with Italian free jazz collective Jooklo. Peaking Lights’ first vinyl releases, Imaginary Falcons (2009) and Space Primitive (2010), both appeared on Night People, and contained extremely lo-fi space-pop songs shrouded in echo and tape hiss.
The duo made their first appearance on Los Angeles-based label Not Not Fun in 2010, sharing a split 7″ (as part of the label’s Bored Fortress series) with Night People founders Wet Hair. The following year, NNF released Peaking Lights’ dub-heavy full-length 936 to glowing reviews and a widening fan base. The group’s momentum led them to signing with Domino Records subsidiary label Weird World, which re-released a deluxe edition of 936 in November 2011. The album spawned two different remix EPs: 936 Remixes (Weird World), which featured takes by dub pioneer Adrian Sherwood and cloud rap duo Main Attrakionz, and the more dance-friendly 936 Remixed, which was issued by NNF’s house sublabel 100% Silk.
2012 saw the release of Peaking Lights’ third long-player, Lucifer, a more professionally recorded album that expanded their sound and included guest vocalizations from their newborn son Mikko. Lucifer in Dub and the house-centric Lucifer Re-Lit followed. Mexican Summer, which released Lucifer in America, also issued “More High,” a limited non-album 7″ single, in 2013. The duo formed a label called Two Flowers, and re-pressed 936 on vinyl. Moving from Weird World to Domino proper, Peaking Lights released the clearly recorded, beat-minded full-length Cosmic Logic in 2014. Over the next few years, the pair largely kept busy as remixers, with clients and collaborators including Sinkane, the Charlatans UK, Roedelius, and Korallreven. A disco-fied new single, “Conga Blue,” appeared on Two Flowers in 2016. The song shared a 12” single with “Little Flower” (featuring actress Chloë Sevigny) a year later. Neither song appeared on Peaking Lights’ double album The Fifth State of Consciousness, which was released on Two Flowers in June of 2017.
In 2018, Peaking Lights issued Sea of Sand, one of their most house-influenced releases, on Amsterdam-based dance label Dekmantel. The duo collaborated with dub originator Lee "Scratch" Perry and producer Ivan Lee on the EP Life of the Plants, which was issued by Stones Throw in 2019. Having relocated to Amsterdam, Peaking Lights released their sixth full-length, E S C A P E, on Dekmantel in 2020. ~ Jason Lymangrover & Paul Simpson