Colourful riffs and quirky pop rhythms elevate catchy hooks and poetic lyrics from the vault – pepo. explores self-reflective sentiments and vivid metaphorical images, with the strong melodies and vocal stylings of tunnel vision.
As an introduction to the project, my echo room. is a definite highlight – a mighty riff, a spacious arrangement, and though the lyrics have that modern programmed familiarity, the music has a certain minimalist charm, plus some essential character traits, and the voice is not hiding behind effects or over production.
After this, glass wings. continues these introspective themes, diary-like outpourings, but also highlights the importance of arrangement within the art of the album. The mood is softer, in delivery and set-up – even the rhythm is light, and the whole thing adds a mellow, thoughtful aura to the project.
An even ten tracks make up the album tunnel vision. The leading voice is consistent for the pepo. approach, and so is the use of clean guitar tones and upbeat but fairly light summertime rhythms.
backseat glow. raises the tempo, offering a more long-form lyrical and melodic progression that again helps shine light on a new vibe. Still the poetry feels automated, but it’s increasingly grounded amidst these themes of self-consideration that are tunnel vision. into the frame takes the complex wordings and qualities further still, and the music remains an easy pleasure to let fill the space.
just some peace changes the vocal tone slightly, leaning more notably towards mainstream pop than indie or dream pop, lifting the tempo for a mellow but near-floor-filler kind of drop. Then we return to the storytelling and scenes that lay down a more cinematic evolution, for the relatable and romantic she was summer.
bfe. is another highlight, a simple and quirky earworm of a pop single, for which ‘I’m falling for my best friend’s ex’ rings out and resounds in a memorable and contrastingly upbeat fashion; considering the emotional ache of the topic.
Then we get volume and bounce, an optimistic and louder groove and clarity, for the more inward looking used to be (live). There’s plenty to prompt self-reflection in the listener, and this is true throughout this pepo. album, but perhaps most notably for this track.
Towards the finish line, nostalgic soft-pop captures affection for i’ll stay, before the piano-ballad 988 wraps things up with an evocative walk down memory lane. The introspective depth and lostness concludes in the same way that it introduced tunnel vision. The pepo. sound and prompts are clearly threaded together and intentional, and the music and lyrics work hard to hold close to those conceptual roots. The stripped-back delicacy and emotion of this closing track makes for a worthy final page in the story.
