Charm & Melody
by Lauren Beck
Pepper Rabbit
Red Velvet Snow Ball
(Kanine)
Xander Singh isn't the best singer in the world—he sounds almost exactly like the guy in the Morning Benders—but he sings with admirably hard-won conviction and nerviness, as if all those moms and teachers who encouraged him to speak up over the last 20-some years are finally starting to register. This is part of Red Velvet Snow Ball's abundant charm. There are overly drawn-out notes and some pitchy warbles that make for some awkward moments on "Allison" and "The Annexation of Puerto Rico," but despite being burdened with a Sufjan-like air of fragility, there's a refreshing sense that Singh is going for it here, two LPs into Pepper Rabbit's career, and maybe the first time in his life.
His conviction snakes through a maze of current indie sidetracks: some songs tread in Grizzly Bear's delicate footing, others dole out herky-jerky rhythms paralleling Local Natives, and bouts of MGMT-like psychedelia pop up occasionally. Though the album as a whole is based in folk, it's bolstered by nearly a dozen instruments, from analog synths to clarinets, spread between Singh and multi-percussionist Luc Laurent. Publicists are quick to point out that Singh used to work at a vintage music store—on credit—taking home a new instrument each week to learn, by way of YouTube videos. This explains the band's "more is better" approach to composition, but also the album's wide-eyed learner quality. Singh is a good pupil, alternating the pace of tracks to avoid making the all-encompassing orchestrations feel forced—in the end, Pepper Rabbit is a smart, promising band with a considerable ear for melody, well on their way to outdoing their contemporaries rather than just reminding us of them.
Photo by Kyle Johnson courtesy Kanine Records
