The Peekers, a six-piece band from Shreveport with a vintage sound impress with their decidedly eclectic and far reaching debut, Life in the Air. With infectious melodies, thoughtful lyrics and fine musicianship, the Peekers offer a guided tour of the mental and emotional state of love-sickness through vintage guitar-and-tambourine pop. Brittney Maddox, John Martin, and Michael Stephens, all songwriters, contribute to the sweeping, dreamy soundscapes devoted to themes of new love and infatuation. Adding to the trio are Jordan West, Aubre Bauer, and Jeremy Hayes, and since so many members of The Peekers are talented singers, vocals also often rotate and sometimes culminate in energized choruses. The microphone is always shifting hands as the band keeps it interesting with alternating lead vocals and four-part harmonies. Most affectingly, the interplay between the male and female vocals allows for lush harmonies and shifting emotional tones from song to song.

Each song is essentially its own genre exercise, from 1920s warbling on “Close My Eyes” to the bluesy “Meet You in Produce.” A psychedelic organ and upbeat handclaps heighten that mid-1960s atmosphere in the bouncy “Concrete Feet.” One generally comes to love the magpie mind of this endearing band and the synthesized ambience of their sweet, simple, love songs that bring to mind the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Cass Eliot, John Phillips and Denny Doherty. In the end we find that love is sometimes a blessing, more often a fever, and always bittersweet.