Peter McPoland

Peter McPoland's fourth full-length album, Big Lucky, hums with intimacy, homespun details, and emotional clarity. Following a viral run of hits and over 450 million streams on Spotify alone that began with breakout single “Romeo + Juliet,” and albums Slow Down, Piggy, and Friend, Peter McPoland has opted for a stripped down, foundational reorientation with this latest album. Recently cutting himself off from social media and arming himself with a flip phone and an iPod full of Beatles songs, McPoland set out to create Big Lucky.

“This is the album I wanted to make when I was 17. It’s very me,” he says. That sense of self reverberates through every inch of Big Lucky, named after a small token that’s followed him from studio to studio: a four-leaf clover, carried since his teenage years which is seen featured in the album artwork painted by McPoland. “It brings me back to the roots of everything,” he says. This latest offering is the project he’s always wanted to make: raw, uncontrived, and singularly him.

Big Lucky was written, produced, engineered, and performed entirely by McPoland, captured on a reel-to-reel tape machine resurrected from his uncle’s basement. Always fascinated by gear and analog imperfections, McPoland recorded Big Lucky alone in his room with his instruments and a handheld drill. McPoland’s discography is a mixture of unfeigned emotional serenades and confident thundering tracks – a skill that he has showcased over the first four years of his career – finding balance between the sincere and the irreverent. His blend of folk, indie-rock, and what at times feel like hymns, melds into an impressive repertoire.

In a world of TikTok sensations, McPoland stands apart — bucking the industry standard of the one-hit-wonder, single-charting poster child — and carving out something far more lasting. Big Lucky touches on themes of life after death, a sudden rise to recognition, love, fear, nuanced heartbreak, childhood, and a varied array of the human experience. Peter has a knack for honing in on and exploring a moment, a feeling, and unraveling it all the way to the end. Sometimes even feeling like folk tales or parables – maybe an echo of his religious upbringing – the existential never detracts from the fun that also remains. Crafted with equal measures of intention and playfulness, this latest record is steeped in DIY spirit. McPoland equates his process to playtime: a kid with their toys and imagination. “I had fun and I played. It was the most fun I’ve had in a really long time. This album is just me having fun,” he says of the process. Big Lucky is Peter McPoland getting back to himself and the pure writing that began his career, captivating millions – inviting listeners into the room with him.

“It’s what I was when people started paying attention to me. It’s back to me.”