Beachin

"Beachin" (stylised in lowercase) is a jungle track by Piri & Tommy. Released 28 January 2022 through EMI as their second single from Froge.mp3 and first as Piri & Tommy, it described a trip the pair had taken to Formby beach, and received broadly positive reception.

Background
In 2021, Piri released two solo singles, "It's a Match" and "Soft Spot", both of which were produced by Tommy Villiers. The latter went viral on TikTok and Spotify, prompting EMI to sign the pair, and re-release "Soft Spot" under the name "Piri & Tommy Villiers". "Beachin", their follow up, was released on 28 January 2022, as "Piri & Tommy", with Skream providing the official remix. The song was originally intended for late October, but was delayed due to the success of "Soft Spot", which also meant the pair were nervous to release "Beachin"; Piri told Dork in July 2022 that Villiers suffered from "impostor syndrome" before release.

It was written after a trip to Formby beach in Liverpool, and Piri's lyrics were an attempt at encapsulating how much they enjoyed the trip and how close they felt afterwards. The song was Villiers's attempt at making a jungle track, which he later annotated with what he described as "some Isley Brothers type of tones", and which ends with a spoken word section, from a video of the trip, which discusses the creation of sand sculptures.

Piri promoted the song by releasing videos to TikTok with the song playing in the background, resulting in several other videos using the song, which prompted the creation of a corresponding dance. The song was first played on Unity Radio on Jasper Hopkins' Breakfast show.

Reception
On 31 January 2022, BBC Radio 1 announced it as that day's "Hottest Record". Notion described the song as a "sugary-sweet slice of escapism", while LeftLion - reviewing a November 2022 concert by the pair - described it as a "summery anthem [which] instantly invited [the crowd] to return to that wildly missed festival feeling that the pair entirely capture within their work". Clash described the song as a "divine pop moment" and a "delicious return soaked in trop-pop textures", and noted that the song's "addictive guitar line unfolds over those head-rush beats, with piri's voice moving from sighing refrain to effects-laden spoken word". In addition, AllMusic complimented the song's "appl[ication of] atmospheric guitars to deep, rolling grooves" and described Skream's remix as "abstract", while The Sunday Times described it as "just as limpet-like" as "Soft Spot" and "a song that both suspends and turns back time", described "the combination of classic soul guitar, dubby bass and serpentine melody" as "pure musical escapism", and likened it to "the Nineties colliding with the 2020s".

Matthew Perpetua used his Fluxblog to describe "Beachin" as "extremely mellow at a high tempo" and "a dreamy moonlit ballad set to beats that sound like they’ve been yanked from a Roni Size record from the late 90s", noted that Villiers' production was "rich with details but feels a lot more breezy than busy, judiciously doling out bass notes and never lets the vibey atmosphere of the lead guitar or keyboard washes thicken into a dense fog", and noted that "Piri sings with very modern English R&B inflections – a lot of restraint and no showy runs, but with an elegant soulfulness in smaller moments", and "fits perfectly in Villiers’ track, matching the tone for the most low-key parts while adding a boldness when the bass and breakbeats really hit". A slightly more lukewarm review, however, came from The Soundboard Stereo, who described the rest of froge.mp3 as "generally likable as background music [...] outside of some detail on beachin that a sound like this is not in any way equipped to convey (for example: “I got him bussin’, he makin’ some mayo”)."

Other uses
On 28 September 2022, the pair performed "On & On", "Beachin", and a cover of Crystal Waters' Gypsy Woman at a BBC Radio 1 session, and on 21 October 2022, the song appeared on Piri & Tommy's mixtape, Froge.mp3. On 12 January 2023, Piri & Tommy performed the song on Radio 1's Sound Of..., and on 27 May 2023, Piri performed the song at Radio 1 Big Weekend.

Track listing
Digital single
 * 1) "Beachin" (Piri & Tommy) – 3:14

Skream remix
 * 1) "Beachin" (Skream Remix) – 3:46
 * 2) "Beachin" (Piri & Tommy) – 3:14

Personnel

 * Piri – vocals
 * Tommy Villiers – production, mastering
 * Jonny Breakwell – mixing