Peepshow is an album that’s very dear to me, not just my favorite Banshees record but also high on the list of my favorite albums ever. After losing their fourth (!!!) guitarist after Through the Looking Glass, the band hired Jon Klein on guitar and expanded into a five-piece with multi-instrumentalist Martin McCarrick. The result was an exciting and bold new dimension to the band’s sound, a kind of cinematic goth pop tinged with strings and accordion spread across a killer album that swings from strength to strength. The post-punk traditionalists may prefer The Scream or Juju but to me this is the Banshees’ greatest achievement.
It all kicks off with “Peek-A-Boo”, one of the album’s best. Combining a skittering beat, sampling, accordion, an acrobatic vocal performance from Siouxsie and great drum work from Budgie, it feels like the album’s most forward-thinking track and like it was beamed out of a haunting alternate 1920s.