I love Green Peppers. The vegetable that is. Or is it a fruit? Now I am left pondering the fruit/vegetable debate. However, this is not a review of the tasty and fleshy additive to many a dish but a review of a single by the band who have chosen to name themselves after the fruit/vegetable type thing. (For those of you wondering, a quick search reveals that bell peppers of any colour are a fruit that is often perceived as a vegetable, so now you know.)
So, who are Green Peppers? They are Jim McCulloch’s project (ex Soup Dragons) and their sound is reminiscent of flower power acts of years gone by. Think Simon & Garfunkel or Emmerson, Lake & Palmer. This is music to watch a sunset melt into an orange sea whilst your skin cools down from the midday heat. So, that is a good thing isn’t it? Well, not quite.
The first song on the 4 track single is Time Machine, and that it is. It’s unmistakeably a homage to 60s bands such as The Beach Boys. This is light and airy music and the 4 track release features Isobel Campbell on Blink Of An Eye which inevitably directed me to comparing this track with her previous incarnation as a member of Belle & Sebastian.
Whilst it is clear that this project allows McCulloch to spend time honing and crafting his art, and whilst there is a certain beauty in the way the tracks are produced, there is something a little too art school about this single. It is not so much dull as it is clever for clever’s sake. There is a line between beauty and blandness when creating music that has an air of simplicity but which has movement and complexities that make tracks continuously interesting to a listener that just isn’t heard in this example of Green Pepper’s work. Sadly, this example just feels a little too much like a project (as the band are defined on their own label) rather than the creation of beautiful music.
I was left, not wanting to dismiss McCulloch’s Green Peppers, but with a feeling that I need to hear more to gain a perspective and opinion of the band. However, if I am not alone in feeling this, many people with less patience to give a band time may well turn away and never look back, which puts Green Peppers at a disadvantage.
Tracks from the project can be heard at
www.MySapce.com/jimmcculloch and further information about McCulloch’s solo project can be found at
www.greenpeppers.info McCulloch is signed to Neon Tetra Records
www.neontetrarecords.com
