The talented Joel Culpepper is looking to have a great 2021 as he gears for the release of his new album – the ingeniously titled Sgt Culpepper – on his own imprint, Pepper Records. Having released two parter ‘Return’ / ‘W.A.R’ last October, Culpepper’s latest release is the brooding ‘Poetic Justice’.

He says: “I got to write this one with Tom Misch after a session for his album project with Yussef Dayes. Tom reached out after hearing ‘Afraid To Be King’ produced by Roy Davis Jr. Pleased he did cause I’ve been a fan of his work for a while. I feel like justice is poetry, but it’s also complex. Part of justice is forgiveness; no longer enslaved by the pain of what someone’s done to you, but the ability to move on from it.”

‘Poetic Justice’ is perhaps Culpepper’s most cohesive release to date. Misch services this introspective mid-tempo with rich yet measured production, gradually embellishing the guitar/drums arrangement with darker, atmospheric hues.

Culpepper is arguably at his most vulnerable here as he refuses to let the trauma of a tempestuous relationship strip him of his capacity for love, intimacy, and forgiveness. ‘I want to love again / I want to feel again / I want to get better / I want to surrender,’ he sings. His fractured vocals and Curtis Mayfield-esque falsetto further charge the piece.

Read our interview with Joel Culpepper here!

Image Copyright: Pepper Records