PEPPER RABBIT

PEPPER RABBIT
Much murkier and more grandiose sound-wise, California duo PR have a few more fans and more songs to get stuck into. General themes are piercing and occasionally high-pitched vocals, gorgeous cameos from fancy instruments like harps (I think) and trumpets, interludes of pure tripped-down electronica, occasional background choruses, and a dreamy, sprawling feel to their gorgeous tunes – very slightly reminiscent of Yeasayer in that last quality. Red Wine tells a pretty torturous tale and yet is the musical equivalent of rolling in a huge pile of silk sheets; None Shall Sleep is gritty and sombre, but framed with a tender, bubbling string backing; while In The Spirit of Beauregard feels like a vaudeville piano song from a musical scored by Yes. Most impressive of all, there’s not one weak song among the eight on offer. myspace.com/pepperrabbit
- Some Of It Was True Blog

Is it me or does Pepper Rabbit’s In The Spirit of Beauregard sound a little like the Beatles? It’s not a criticism; it’s a lovely, elegant daydream of a song, but those choppy little beats and the slightly chintzy sound definitely makes me recall a few efforts by Lennon, McCartney and co. See what you think…
- Some Of It Was True

I saw Pepper Rabbit’s name tossed around a bit in pre-SXSW planning and only recently connected that they were the same group Dave Rawkblog has been raving about.

Pepper Rabbit write haunted pop music. That’s really all there is. It’s soft melodies with occasionally some stirring trumpet or banjo work to give you goosebumps occasionally. They’re really a pretty well put together songwriting duo. And the best part is that “Red Wine” is probably my least favorite track of theirs. The other songs they’ve got up on their Myspace are even better than this one. - Matt Jordan

Most bands are terrible with tape loops. What sounds great on record is often difficult to reproduce in a performance, and though a number of solo acts — St. Vincent, Andrew Bird, Owen Pallett — use it as an essential element of their repertoire, it’s rare to find a musician outside of consumate performer Jon Brion who ever makes tapping that pedal look easy. Yet Pepper Rabbit, a trio based mainly on keyboards, bass and drums, stitched in their live looping seamlessly on Tuesday night, fleshing out their gloomy psych-pop with clarinet, ukelele, harmonies and whatever was at hand in their surprisingly cluttered stage. It was precocious stuff from a wet-footed live act, but the songs were as sharp as their instrumental sureness, gaining a boldness and volume on stage that recalled Grizzly Bear’s promising early days. Head down the rabbit hole with these guys soon — before it becomes the Palladium. - Rawkblog.net

It’s not just that Pepper Rabbit has a lot of ideas, it’s the fact that they—this is a duo—make them cohere, and cohere in a way that is indie pop-songful. It’s also that they’re dense, yet clear: compact yet not confused, like a star, compressing its atoms, banging them together, and giving off an obvious multifarious light. One of the atoms is tape loop, another is a hoarse trumpet, which made me think of Zachary Condon’s Beirut. Another is a sweet Beatles melody that arrives during “Send in the Horns”, while another is a ukulele, which they play with a rounded bubbling sound. Then there are bells, then there is a piano, then there is the way they let the songs well up into romantic crescendos, as if pleasure is spilling out of them. This a joyful album. The two musicians, Xander Singh and Luc Laurent, formed Pepper Rabbit in 2008, and went on to release two EPs, one called Shakes, the other Clicks. Here you have both EPs together. They’ve been touring, if you’re in the US.
- PopMatters

"New-romanticism. Sounds naïve, sure, but Hollywood-via-Boston’s Xander Singh writes emotive music meant to stir. Combining elements of folk, rock, and country, Singh’s unassuming poise is welcome relief in a tasteless industry void." - Pop Montreal 2007 - Pop Montreal Festival 07