There is nothing red hot about the Green Peppers. They simply radiate a wonderful coolness from every soothing note.
The band is the solo project of Jim McCulloch of Soup Dragons, and Superstar fame. Adventures In The Slipstream (Neon Tetra Records 2008) is the third Green Peppers release and follows on effortlessly from Domino Mornings which floated out in the summer of 2007.
There is a wonderful synchronicity to releasing a Green Peppers album in the sunny months because as sure as the sun itself it is those lazy hazy summer days that this music will remind you of. By adding Emma Pollock (The Delgados), Melanie White (The Hermit Crabs), Sandra Belda (Superete), and the newly discovered Anna Sheard, he has added several more colours from his palette.
In a luscious time warping, the Green Peppers will take you back to a far off time of sixties innocence, the belief that music can change the world, and a farm in Bethel, New York state where it very nearly came true. On Adventures In The Slipstream Jim McCulloch steps out of the vibe created by Domino Mornings and adds the vocal talents of four female singers that bring a gentle summer breeze to the whole sound. Listen to the perfectly named “The Apple Sun” or maybe float along on the warm glow created by “The Shell Song”, an opener destined to pull you gently into the album.
“Angel, Angel” is just so soft, you can almost feel it brushing against your skin. “Carry Me Away” took me straight back to the sixties, as its Dylanesque opening suddenly stepped into Crosby, Stills, and Nash or Mama Cass territory. It is the single from the album and just has to find its way onto the airwaves. So if anyone out there at a radio station wants to chill us down in between their depressing news bulletins, then look no further.
Rarely has a song been so perfectly entitled as “The Apple Sun”. This one is Joni Mitchell meeting Joan Baez in a gentle acoustic folk song that will warm even the coldest day. It is a wonderful vocal performance from Anna Sheard. “Golden Geese” is a trip through sixties harmony, whilst “The Long Road” is a soothing country-fide gem complete with Dave McGowan on pedal steel.
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