![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/orange_peels_sun_moon.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Orange Peels<\/strong> have been releasing albums for sixteen years; Sun Moon<\/em> is their fifth album. On all of their earlier albums, the cover art incorporated the color orange. Yet Sun Moon<\/em>‘s cover art is much more overtly dark-hued. That’s consistent with the subtle change in the music on the new record as well: many of the tunes exhibit less of the sunny, jangly powerpop vibe often associated with the group. \u201cI didn’t do that on purpose,\u201d insists Allen Clapp<\/strong>, the man who \u2013 in addition to singing on, playing on and producing the record, designed the sleeve. (\u201cThat’s why I learned graphic design,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cI didn’t want someone else designing my album covers!\u201d) Clapp insists he wasn’t aware of the color scheme departure until I pointed it out to him. \u201cMaybe it was subconscious,\u201d he offers. \u201cMaybe it’s indicative of the fact that this music is different, that it’s a little bit more organic.\u201d He laughs when he describes Sun Moon’s cover as having a \u201cprimordial slime color. I have no idea why it’s that color; it just seemed to fit.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though there have been some personnel shifts in the band \u2013 other than Clapp and wife\/bassist Jill Pries Clapp<\/strong>, the lineup has changed with each record, with John Moremen<\/strong><\/a> coming, going and returning. Yet there’s a sonic thread connecting the first four records. In some ways, Sun Moon<\/em> sounds almost like the work of a different band. In fact, in places the record conjures thoughts of \u2013 of all things \u2013 Led Zeppelin<\/strong>. While the Orange Peels haven’t embarked on a stylistic rollercoaster ride akin to Neil Young<\/strong>‘s incessant genre-jumping, Sun Moon<\/em> definitely has a darker, more rocking feel. \u201cThere are some songs on the second half of 2020<\/em><\/a> [released in 2009] that sort of hint at this direction,\u201d Clapp observes. \u201cWe were already heading there. And then what happened was what happens every time we put out a record.\u201d (\u201cIt hasn’t happened this time, yet,\u201d he chuckles.) \u201cNot long afterward, the band disintegrates for some reason. And then Jill and I are like, ‘Great. It happened again. What are we gonna do?’\u201d He goes on to relate the story of how the band set out on tour to support 2020<\/em>, starting \u201cwith one band, and coming home with another: the band we have now.\u201d By the end of that tour, Clapp says, \u201cit was obvious to us that the band was already sounding different.\u201d So those changes influenced the sound of the subsequent studio recordings that became Sun Moon<\/em>.<\/p>\n The first piece the new lineup recorded was \u201cTraveling West\/Sundowns,\u201d an instrumental track Clapp characterizes as a \u201cweird little TV theme song kind of thing. We got together, put up some microphones, and came up with it.\u201d Subsequent sessions were very open-ended: \u201cWe got together with nothing in mind as to what we were going to do,\u201d says Clapp. That itself marked a fundamental shift in the way The Orange Peels approached album sessions. \u201cAs one of the main songwriters in the band,\u201d Clapp explains, \u201cI typically come to the band and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got these songs.’ This time, there was a lot less of that; it was more along the lines of, ‘Hey, let’s just show up and see what we come up with.’\u201d The resulting work is \u201cjust what the band sounds like, really,\u201d he says. The music on Sun Moon<\/em> is more collaborative in nature, in both the songs and arrangements, than what came before. \u201cI guess I felt comfortable enough with this lineup, that I had no problem ‘giving that away,’\u201d Clapp muses.<\/p>\n But the label was, Clapp explains, \u201clike a bank. They fronted that money, hoping for a return on their investment. We were getting charged for all that stuff \u2013 posters etc. \u2013 and it felt like we were getting it for free. But,\u201d he laughs, \u201cwe weren’t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn our second album [So Far,<\/em> from 2001], SpinArt gave us less money; you could already see that the industry was changing.\u201d He observes that \u201cindependent labels had less money to spend, and they were expecting more form the artists; they wanted us to do more stuff on our own.\u201d So the rules had changed, but not always for the worse: \u201cThey were offering us a better royalty rate,\u201d Clapp notes. Overall, he says, it was more of a collaborative endeavor, with an equitable splitting of profits (if any). \u201cAnd,\u201d he says, \u201cIt worked out pretty good.\u201d Subsequent distribution on a Japanese label yielded more financial rewards for the band, who were, as Clapp characterizes it, gradually \u201cbecoming our own business.\u201d<\/p>\n Their experience with Parasol Records for 2005’s Circling the Sun<\/em> was \u201cbasically a carbon copy of that arrangement,\u201d Clapp explains. The album got separate licensing agreement in Japan and Europe, and the band booked their own tours. \u201cFinally,\u201d Clapp says, \u201cI realized, ‘I can’t really see what a record label is doing for us any more.’ We were doing so much of this stuff on our own; the workload had really shifted from the label people doing everything to the band doing everything.\u201d The Orange Peels decided that since they already had their own recording studio (\u201cI had been building up my recording arsenal along the way,\u201d says Clapp), they decided, \u201clet’s just do this whole thing on our own, and call it Mystery Lawn Music.\u201d They would partner with companies for distribution as needed, but they would be truly on their own. The resulting arrangement would be lower risk for the distributor (since the band had a finished product ready to deliver) and the band (since their work was already done). Clapp happily describes Minty Fresh’s role in the process as \u201ccurator.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/orange_peels_studio.jpg\")
<\/center>The Orange Peels have released albums on Minty Fresh, Spin Art, Parasol, and then \u2013 starting with 2020<\/em> \u2013 their own Mystery Lawn (distributed by Minty Fresh). \u201cWhen we put our our first record [1997’s Square<\/em>], the indie music world was still fairly similar to the major label world,\u201d Clapp recalls. \u201cThere was just less money involved. The label gave us a chunk of money and said, ‘Go into the studio and record your album.’ We were in our twenties; it was the kind of thing you dream about.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/allen_clapp.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/icon_twitter_small.jpg\"){kind=icon}
Twitter<\/a> and get notified