I didn’t know what to expect when I dove into Pepper Rabbit’s new release, Beauregard. I didn’t think I was familiar with the band, but I guess by association I was expecting them to sound something like Pepper, so I put off listening to the album for a few days. When I finally sat down to give it an honest listen today, I was very pleasantly surprised. For one thing, they sound nothing like Pepper (no offense to Pepper, I’m just not in that place right now), and their sound does evoke bands I like a lot, and I’ve learned from the Internet that if I’d done a little pre-listen research, I would have been expecting the psych-folk I got instead of electrified ska.

Here’s a quick rundown of the tracks on the album:

Track one, “Clarinet Song,” struck me all the way through as what it would sound like if Colin Meloy took the day off from The Decemberists and Ben Bridwell from Band of Horses stepped in for him. I loved the harp in this and other tracks.

Track two, “Harvest Moon,” is ethereal and upbeat and I dug the banjo here especially.

Track three, “In the Spirit of Beauregard,” evokes the Beatles circa Sgt. Pepper, fittingly. I could imagine the same sorts of techniques that the Beatles employed on the legendary LP (like cutting up lengths of tape of calliope music & taping them back together at random for “Mr. Kite”) being explored in the studio on this one.

Track four, “Red Wine,” felt to me like a convergence of familiar bands. It again evoked the psychedellic Beatles, this time calling to mind “Strawberry Fields Forever” with its percussion, and also reminded me of The Court and Spark circa Hearts (something about it kept taking me back to “Your Mother was the Lightning”) and Islands.

Track five, “Snowalker,” seemed to be in two places at the same time– like plucky American folk music had been laid over something farther away. Like lead singer Xander Singh is farther from us in terms of distance and mood than the banjo player and percussionist. Something in the percussion/banjo on this one really evoked Iron & Wine for me, too. Maybe in that sense of stepping through time with the aid of a banjo.

Track six, “Older Brother,” is perhaps the least evocative track on the album, and maybe the most connected– the one in which I felt most like Singh is here with me instead of removed at some distance.

Track seven, “None Shall Sleep,” Begins with a build and instrumentation that evoked The Decemberists again for me, and it was so cinematic that I decided to scope YouTube for a video to see what they would have done with the song visually. I didn’t see a music video yet, but I imagine this track would make for a great video.

Track eight, “Song for a Pump Organ,” was by far my least favorite track on the album. In fact, it was bumming me out enough that I wound up skipping it about 1/2 way through. Its heaviness and brief loops of circus music were so dark that they actually affected my mood, so I guess I have to give the band credit for evoking a real response, but I’m glad I didn’t play the song to the end. This one evoked Sgt. Pepper and The Court & Spark for me again, and I was struck again by the similarity in Singh and Ben Bridwell’s vocal styles.

Track nine, “Babette!,” was a huge relief after skipping through the somber pump organ dirge. It opens with a bouncy acoustic– almost slack-key– guitar and space noises against Decemberists-reminiscent accordian. I feel like I’ve heard this song before, but I couldn’t track down where I would have. I’d definitely call this the key track on the album.

Track 10, “Send in the Horns,” is the final song on the album and was the first time I really noticed electric guitar. Coupled with jingle bells and church bells, something about this one left me thinking about Band of Horses again.

In total, I have to say I was impressed. The band is playing at The Echo in Los Angeles on the 18th of November, and I think it’ll be a show worth being at. I’m never sure how I feel about bands that remind me of other bands– on the one hand, it’s nice to find familiarity in new places, on the other hand there were moments in this album that felt a little more derivative than evocative. I think I’d recommend rushing to the Echo show before I pushed you to buy the album, and if you like them live on the 18th, you should pick up the album there or thereafter. I suspect seeing them live would seal the deal.

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