Pitchfork

Not to be confused with Chicago's Owls, Minneapolis four-piece the Owls had one of the dreamiest indie-pop songs of 2004 in "Air", from debut "mini LP" Our Hopes and Dreams. "Peppermint Patty", from follow-up Daughters and Suns, shows the band continuing to delight in the softer side of the Velvet Underground (particularly Loaded's "Who Loves the Sun"), with their lush boy-girl harmonies, acoustic guitars, and plinking piano. It's a tender, nuanced song about a Belle and Sebastian-worthy protagonist who may have finally found a way to escape being ridiculed by "the clever ones," "the pretty ones," and "the funny ones." Damn, quite a trifecta.

The Owls might even be singing about that Peppermint Patty, at least metaphorically: "If Pigpen's only looking on, just wave goodbye and then be gone," comes a soft, girlish vocal. We're also told that poor Patty's "just too laissez-faire"-- maybe a pun, given the way Marcie always calls her "Sir"? Lucky for Patty, Schroeder isn't here to complicate the arrangement with his Beethoven. And you don't have to be a fellow D-minus student to feel for the girl.