Peace 'Forever and Ever' in Kuala Lumpur

   Even with the fasting month still going on for the Muslims in Malaysia, horrendous extended traffic during rush hour, and the probability of you having a seat at any ol’ restaurant during the hours of 7-8.30PM practically near to impossible due to breaking of fast, crowds still build over The Bee, Publika to overturn their Monday blues by taking a dive into some indie rock goodness with the band Peace!

 The appetizer of the night was the opening act Couple, one of the pioneer indie bands in the country, the band started their set with a new song from their new album, “Sedia–Sedia”. After performing six or so of their songs like, “Be My Baby” and “Tentang Kita”, the crowd built up. However, the organizers had to cut short Couple’s set by one song due to time constraints.

On course to the Entrée of the event: Peace. An indie rock sensation from Bristol, with a line up featuring brothers Harrison Koisser, vocalist cum guitarist, Sam Koisser the pretty boy bassist, Douglas Castle on the guitar and Dominic Boyce on the drums. The band made their stage debut in Asia with their set in the quaint Bee, radiating such a quirky and yet rockstar-ish presence as they came on stage with hair long enough to cover their entire face and fashion sense that accentuated their UK vibes.  Their jeans were as tight as leggings. This critically acclaimed band, which have been compared to the likes of pioneer indie bands such as Foals and Wu Lyf, have a lot going for them, making the crowd anticipate their appearance on stage.

Not wasting any time, the band opened their set with the song “Follow Baby” the very song that upped their name in the indie rock scene after renaming their band from November And the Criminal to Peace in early 2012. Their set list was planned like a movie: It had a dramatic opening, training to a nice progression that filled the set with notable songs from their album “In Love” such as “Blood shake”, “Waste Of Paint”, “Float Forever” and even their cover of Disclosure’s song “White Noise”. In between songs, Harry brought out his panache, from the way he said “KL, sup” to the chuckling moment when he squinted looking at the set list saying, casino online “What’s next, I can’t read”.

The crowd got their dancing shoes on, hair pushed back and ready to bop their heads when Peace played their most highlighted song in the album, “Wraith”. Not disappointing really as this song really has its flow of moods throughout, making it a real nice peak to the entire show. At this time, you could clearly see the moods of the crowd in play; the love-struck couples in one corner, the pretentious hipsters looking cool in the other, not to mention the sudden cornucopia of head bopping amongst the rest of the crowd. Cheekily enough, somehow every time someone on the floor shouted out, “HARRY WE LOVE YOU” Harry would turn over giving the most flirtatious look he could, going, “Aww, I love you too!”

 Nearing to the end, the band picked it up one last time with “Higher Than The Sun” before nicely ending with a spring romance vibe by playing “Lovesick”.

            With 11 tracks played altogether, the band did a beyond amazing job of showcasing their album to a different part of the world. From the beginning of the set till the end, one of the things that was hovering around in my mind was “Right off the studio album”, proving that they are just as good live as they are in MP3 format. Hailed as “The future of indie”, this band quite honestly has a lot coming up for them. Definitely more to love from this Bristol quartet, Peace! (Pun totally intended) (Zafran Aqil/Raja Kathryna)