The Masked Singer

Orville Peck

Pony

There are two sides to Orville Peck, and he wears them both on his face. There’s the yearning for the good ol’ days of outlaws and the wild west, as communicated through his cowboy hat, and then there’s the queer subtext that bubbles throughout Pony, his debut LP, as seen in the flamboyant fringe that hangs below his mask. That his mask is equal parts Zorro and bondage hood only serves to further his duality. All the tropes of classic country are there — dusty saloon iconography, shuffling percussion, literal bells and whistles, banjo twang — and are largely presented free of commentary. Tracks like “Roses Are Falling” and “Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)” are solid entries to the classic country canon of Glen Campbell and Loretta Lynn, while his impressive vocal range helps keep the album varied. The record’s most powerful moment, however, is also its least country. Standout “Buffalo Run” barrels out of the gate with surf rock drums and guitars into a fullon shoegaze sprint to the finish. It’s exhilarating and urgent, and a potent reminder of the project’s fullest potential. There’s an ever-crowded field of cowboys

it would sound, but how it would be received. The truth is, Groove Denied is a typical Malkmus album. It may seem ludicrous to call a piece of work that completely ditches everything the (of all genders) making their way through independent music these days, but Peck’s striking imagery sets him apart. (Royal Mountain/Sub Pop)

What led you to country music?

I’ve lived in five different countries and a lot of cities, so I was always exposed to the idea of travelling a lot and never really feeling settled. I think country music has a lot of parallels and the characters in country music appeal to me because they all had a sense of feeling unsettled as well. The idea of the lone cowboy as a metaphorical figure, I thought was really cool when I was a kid.

What’s the origin behind the masks?

I make them all myself. There are, I think, 14 different ones now and I’ve only shown a handful so far. I think people can put together the references of the top-part Zorro mask, but the idea that I really liked cowboys as a mysterious, enigmatic antihero, so I just wanted to keep my face concealed. My mother was a seamstress, so I grew up learning to sew really young and never found a way to really apply that.

California slack-rocker built his career on typical, but sometimes life is ludicrous. Originally shelved by Matador in favour of releasing last year’s terrific Sparkle Hard, Malkmus’s eighth solo LP was written during his early ’00s residency in Berlin, and recently recorded in Oregon. Although his Berlin years weren’t as legendary as David Bowie’s, they nonetheless resulted in