Few purveyors of infectious pop rock are as devilishly outspoken as Gregory Pepper. The Guelph-based songwriter often sounds like his smile might be wide enough to knock the chip off his shoulder, but it’s just not. On the concise Chorus! Chorus! Chorus! (10 songs, 13 minutes), Pepper deftly packages his hilarious invective in glowing rays of sunshine.
Among his prime targets are the vapid and complacent among us who seem to wander this world in an oblivious, self-important haze. On Welcome To The Dullhouse, he tears into the Barbies and Kens who populate club districts on Saturday nights. “Your photo’s insincere / ’Cuz you took it in a mirror / God, your narcissism makes me blush,” he observes on the biting Smart Phones For Stupid People. And he gets into media nepotism and “taste-making” on the sharp, I Wonder Whose Dick You Had To Suck.
Through it all, Pepper & his Problems tap into the dark arts of Weezer, a spirit guide for brooding sweetness. It takes special sauce to turn so much pain and anger into such catchy, funny jams.
Top track: There In The Meadow (Was I Not A Flower At All?)
