Whiles

***Hailing from the heart of the Midwest, The Whiles (formerly known as Mrs. Children) eschew the punk rock and lo-fi sounds for which “Cowlumbus” has been more (in)famously known, in favor of a softer approach that reflects the sound of the seasons. Taking their cues from the spiritual side of their collective hearts (principal songwriter Joe Peppercorn is a professional organ player and Latin teacher) Colors of the Year touches on the gentler side of love and longing, with wonderful threepart harmonies, distant echoes of Nick Drake, Zombies and Eric Anderson, and neo-old-fangled sounds such as Belle and Sebastian, Ron Sexsmith and The Smiths — all meshed into their own wonderful 
noise. Self-produced with some engineering duties by Jon Chinn (New Bomb Turks), Colors of the Year is a great leap forward from their self-released EP Break Your Back, which garnered a mention in Rolling Stone’s “Ten Most Rocking College Towns” issue. Their demo at that time landed them on the cover of Columbus Alive and they have managed to create a fairly rabid following in the Midwest. The band formed in 1998 by high school classmates, but it wasn’t until brother Matt Peppercorn joined that Joe felt the musical strings loosen and made the epic leap into the breathtaking songwriter he now is — another voice of the Y generation — no props, no gimmicks, no screaming.