I suppose that when a band gets categorised as country folk and roll, it should be no surprise that a certain gleeful uncertainty becomes the most prominent thing that you remember about them and Pea and The Pees – they are from Germany despite the clear absorption of things American that has taken place during their musical gestation – turn that lack of direction into an advantage that sees them all the way through their album “Golden Treasures”.
As in all things, it helps when you have charm on your side and, more often than not, Pea and The Pees use that to present their mishmash of influences as a fine accompaniment to the consumption of beer with “Supersweet Polka”, although delivered in near laconic tones, being nothing less than a proper drinking song and “Female”, a song most likely designed to make you fall off your bar stool, feeling as if it were written with ink stolen from Kurt Weill’s pen.
Throw in a Dad Horse Experience style murder ballad like “Tell Me” and a downright fluffy example of guitar pop like “Superchicks” and you have the proof that Pea and The Pees can go anywhere they want to even within the confines of their own album.