if i don’t love you, who will ? is Master Peace’s second album, following his debut, How To Make a Master Peace.

On this record, Peace isn’t just taking his previous sound and adding to it; he’s doing something completely different and marking this new era. This is clear from the first track, “save your love xx”.

Already, I can hear clear changes from How To Make a Master Peace and the sound he is going for. It’s an extremely catchy track without sounding like he’s purposefully chasing a big song; he doesn’t sacrifice his own personality for it. His vocals here are mixed really well, without that overprocessed sound you can hear in a lot of modern music.

Synth-Pop and a New Sound

What I love about this album are the more synth-pop-inspired tracks, such as “new boyfriend” and “stay on me !”. For a while, Peace has been put into the more indie-rock category by many people, but this is him showing he’s capable of so much more.

Despite his softer approach to vocal delivery showcased here, he isn’t afraid to go back to his more abrasive style on “back at me”, a clear contrast to tracks such as “sucker punch !”.

Peace himself describes this record as something that was “shaped by a very specific time in my life”. He also says he “took all the hurt and confusion and turned it into something that I’m proud of”. That’s why I noticed a considerable difference between a few of these songs, and it really adds to the experience.

The Highs, the Lows and the Features

Tracks like “ONE of ONE” have a very bright sound to them, with less of an autumnal vibe and more of a hot summer’s day feeling. But that’s challenged by songs like “falling in love with your friends”, where Peace conveys the downside of what he’s feeling.

if i don’t love you, who will ? feels like a deep dive into his thinking at the time he wrote these tracks, showing how he understood the situation. You hear it whether he’s saying how beautiful she is with lyrics like “she’s got a face card that will never decline” or singing “now the champagne’s warm and I wanna leave”.

Another aspect of this album is its features. These include Muni Long, Thomas Day and Diamond Cafe. They all work in their own way, whether it’s Muni providing another perspective on “act like you know ?” or Thomas Day helping encapsulate the feeling of uncertainty on “Love Hate”.

The “Sucker Punch”

If I were to choose one track to focus on, it would be “sucker punch !”, the third single from this record. He takes a well-known metaphor with so many meanings behind it, giving the track several possible interpretations.

The main meaning of “sucker punch !” is that Peace finds out the girl he’s had a situationship with has moved on. It feels abrupt, so he calls it a sucker punch. However, it could also refer to him having a sort of hate for this girl now, saying that she’s a coward.

I think it’s clear to anyone who’s heard this album that Peace doesn’t like sticking to one sound. Even on his debut album, How To Make a Master Peace, he includes tracks like “I Might Be Fake”, an electronic-themed song, alongside his more gloomy indie-rock tracks like “Panic-101”.

But on if i don’t love you, who will ?, he explores the feeling of a “Love Hate” relationship perfectly. He tries to play off what he’s feeling on “new boyfriend”, but by the closing track, “never moved on ?”, he finally accepts that, well, he never moved on.

Final Thoughts

It’s very rare that I hear an album and find myself thinking so much about it even after one listen. It’s a record that, despite its length, deserves so much attention.

But that’s my only real grievance with it. I think he said what he needed to say without any filler, but it’s only around thirty minutes long. I feel that he definitely needs to try something like this again and keep building upon it. He’s shown already, after two albums, that he can write thought-provoking material; he just needs to completely perfect it.

Overall, this album felt like a real “sucker punch” in that it surprised me immensely, and I’m left with no clue what just happened.

9.6/10

Verdict

“It’s a record that, despite its length, deserves so much attention.”