The one-man band that is Peppermint Moon is at it again with the release of two wonderfully composed and sonically layered new singles!
Peppermint Moon is the pseudonym for West Marin songwriter/musician Colin Schlitt, whose other job is being the bassist for dark alt rock band El Radio Fantastique. Schlitt’s choice to not use his own name for this project is a bit unusual. He explains, “I like the idea of a set of music having a poetic name as opposed to just being the name of a person. I am also pretty shy and introverted most of the time and felt more comfortable giving this project a name that wouldn’t draw as much attention to me personally and would focus more on the songs. I thought it would be cool if people were fooled and thought it was an actual band.”
Peppermint Moon is the pseudonym for West Marin songwriter/musician Colin Schlitt, whose other job is being the bassist for dark alt rock band El Radio Fantastique. Schlitt’s choice to not use his own name for this project is a bit unusual. He explains, “I like the idea of a set of music having a poetic name as opposed to just being the name of a person. I am also pretty shy and introverted most of the time and felt more comfortable giving this project a name that wouldn’t draw as much attention to me personally and would focus more on the songs. I thought it would be cool if people were fooled and thought it was an actual band.”
The two new singles, “Foxy Friends” and "He She They” are not part of any upcoming Peppermint Moon albums, but instead they were more of a “creative surprise” for Schlitt. “I wasn’t planning on working on any new recordings for a while, but these two recordings just sort of happened quickly in unexpected spurts,” Schlitt explains. “He She They”, was recorded after Schlitt took his son to a concert at the Fillmore featuring artist Cavetown. “I was blown away by the concert and by Cavetown’s recorded stuff. 'He She They' was already almost all the way written, and with that concert as inspiration, I started recording it, trying to emulate the Cavetown songs I had been listening to."
A funky electric organ groove opens “He She They” as it tells the story of being a circle in a square world, with psychedelic and layered Beatlesque vocals stating, “Some words are spoken/With no grace/And no taste/Some people feel broken/And they can still fly…Sometimes it’s hard to show who are you inside.”
“Foxy Friends” is all crunchy guitar feedback and bite-sized chunks of grunge topped with pop sprinkles. It’s a fun song and defiantly my favorite of the two releases. “Foxy Friends” was recorded during Schlitt’s home quarantine with Covid a few months ago, and in many ways it was therapy. “I was climbing up the walls with nothing to do and my fiancée suggested I use the time to make some music,” states Schlitt. “I had the chord progression and the melody for the song, but that was it. I had been watching a Sex Pistols documentary and a lot of cable news; that was the inspiration to finish the song and record it. Within three days of starting to record, I had it knocked out."
"One thing that is different about “Foxy Friends” is that I recorded it so quickly. It has much more of a raw feel than lots of my other songs. I didn’t fuss over getting perfect takes and it has a sense of immediacy because of it. Also, you can really hear the Covid in my throat!"
Along with these two new singles, Peppermint Moon has three EPs, Mr. Manager (2021), A Million Suns (2020) and his 2019 debut release Symphony Of Sympathy. As with all his music, Schlitt does all the instrumentation, the vocals, the recording, and the mixing for his albums. “My production style is much more punk rock – not so much in the sound, but in the attitude. I have no real production or engineering training and have learned as I go. I basically just say ‘screw it’ and try not to let my lack of technical knowledge get in the way.“
Check out more on Peppermint Moon.
A funky electric organ groove opens “He She They” as it tells the story of being a circle in a square world, with psychedelic and layered Beatlesque vocals stating, “Some words are spoken/With no grace/And no taste/Some people feel broken/And they can still fly…Sometimes it’s hard to show who are you inside.”
“Foxy Friends” is all crunchy guitar feedback and bite-sized chunks of grunge topped with pop sprinkles. It’s a fun song and defiantly my favorite of the two releases. “Foxy Friends” was recorded during Schlitt’s home quarantine with Covid a few months ago, and in many ways it was therapy. “I was climbing up the walls with nothing to do and my fiancée suggested I use the time to make some music,” states Schlitt. “I had the chord progression and the melody for the song, but that was it. I had been watching a Sex Pistols documentary and a lot of cable news; that was the inspiration to finish the song and record it. Within three days of starting to record, I had it knocked out."
"One thing that is different about “Foxy Friends” is that I recorded it so quickly. It has much more of a raw feel than lots of my other songs. I didn’t fuss over getting perfect takes and it has a sense of immediacy because of it. Also, you can really hear the Covid in my throat!"
Along with these two new singles, Peppermint Moon has three EPs, Mr. Manager (2021), A Million Suns (2020) and his 2019 debut release Symphony Of Sympathy. As with all his music, Schlitt does all the instrumentation, the vocals, the recording, and the mixing for his albums. “My production style is much more punk rock – not so much in the sound, but in the attitude. I have no real production or engineering training and have learned as I go. I basically just say ‘screw it’ and try not to let my lack of technical knowledge get in the way.“
Check out more on Peppermint Moon.
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