Peppermint Heaven have spent much of their career looking backwards to move forwards, drawing on the sounds and aesthetics of the 1980s while giving them a distinctly modern electronic edge. On Time To Say Goodbye, however, the L.A. duo take a softer route. Across three songs, the emphasis shifts away from the dancefloor and towards melody, emotion and the kind of polished pop craftsmanship that feels deliberately out of step with the present.
The title track is the EP’s emotional centre, a warm and hopeful love song that leans into an almost timeless sense of romanticism. Rather than chasing the maximalism of contemporary electronic pop, Peppermint Heaven let the song breathe, giving its nostalgic character room to become part of the appeal rather than simply a stylistic reference.
“Paper Dreams” brings a little more movement, pairing a buoyant pop sensibility with lyrics about the difference between comfortable ambition and genuine personal growth. It’s followed by “Be Who You Are”, which goes fully into power-ballad territory. The song’s message of leaving the past behind and finding your own identity is hardly unfamiliar territory, but the unabashed sincerity suits the EP’s retro sensibility.
What makes “Time To Say Goodbye” work is precisely that lack of irony. Peppermint Heaven aren’t simply recreating an earlier era; they’re embracing the emotional directness that came with it. After recent releases exploring AI, machine learning and more dance-oriented territory, this feels like a deliberate change of pace, less concerned with where technology is taking music and more interested in what remains familiar.
There’s a retrospective quality to the EP, but it doesn’t feel like a closing chapter. If anything, Time To Say Goodbye suggests that Peppermint Heaven are comfortable leaving one version of themselves behind to see what comes next.
