Bringing a woozy pop and their own brand of off-kilter sound, ill peach charm with their new single GUM.

Los Angeles-based duo ill peach have had quite the adventure to discovering their callings as musicians; consisting of Jess Corazza and Pat Morrissey, the duo came together after Jess realised she couldn’t sustain a cowgirl lifestyle, and Pat burnt out as a competition tap dancer. Their interesting backgrounds do seem to lend themselves to the two musicians being more fun and risk-taking, which they channel into their own off-brand of pop, with a pinch of grittiness thrown into the mix – just to keep things interesting.

With a debut project, Excuse Us While We Find Our Minds, in the works for later this summer, they share their newest release, GUM. The track sees them building on their core sound with dulcet vocals and strummed guitars. Bringing a contrast between the seamless, girlish voice and the more percussive instrumentals, the result is a compelling listen that will work its way into your head and become an earworm. Although mellow on the surface, what it lacks in aggression is made up for in passion as an ardent chorus takes you on a thrilling ride before coming away for more blissed-out verses.

Accompanying the single release with a music video, it sees Jess dancing around a house but with very punchy, thrusting movements. This brings an element of surrealism that the whimsical soundscape also appears to adopt, and you feel as if you’re in a world that’s very similar but not quite the same as normal. The music video, directed by Lucy Sandler, has also been nominated for the Best Newcomer Award by the Music Video Production Association.

Speaking on the new single, ill peach share:

‘GUM’ is about 2 kids in a diner, who go there to dream big. It was inspired by “Hard Times Cafe” in Minneapolis. A legendary 24 hour diner. Life is like a piece of gum. Once it loses its flavor you spit it out and pop in a new piece.

Feeling captivated by the intriguing duo, we spoke to them more about the making of the track and video.

What’s a motto you live by?

Let go. If you walk around with your grip too tight on things, you’ll end up losing out on enjoying the moment.

If your sound had a colour, what colour would it be?

Technicolor because it’s hard for us to pick one color in the crayon box.

If you could set GUM to a TV show or movie, what would it be the soundtrack for and why?

Garden State. Cause that soundtrack was awesome.

What inspired the video for GUM?

We watched a scene in Hedwig & the Angry Inch; the one where the main character had her head in an oven. And it transformed into her bedroom to escape reality.

What’s the most unexpected fact about yourselves that people don’t know, but perhaps should know?

We’re not brother and sister.

What are you most excited for with Excuse Us While We Find Our Minds?

For people to find out what happened when we went crazy for a couple years.

Do you have any behind-the-scenes stories you can share with us about the GUM writing/producing process, or the music video-making process?

We wrote the song 3 years ago. The first version was a shoe gaze, ambient track. We worked on it forever and almost trashed the song altogether. During the video shoot, when we set the miniature house on fire, Pat heard a fire truck and literally thought someone had called 911 on us. Turns out nobody did and Pat looked like an ass.

And finally, slightly cliché, but what does music mean to you?

It means the world. As cliché as that sounds.