For those not in the know Papercuts is in fact the musical brain child of San Francisco producer/songwriter extraordinaire Jason Quever and with this new album Fading Parade (his 5th release and 1st on Sub Pop records) he is looking to make that creative leap towards a more mainstream and more accessible pop sound, although don't worry he's not about to don leg warmers and get Hype Williams to direct his videos I just mean there is a definite spoonful of sugar here to help the medicine go down sprinkled on the tracks. The opener 'Do You Really Wanna Know' is the most single worthy track here that leaps out of the speakers and headphones and is one that will be clogging my playlists for many months now and probably beyond. It is a perfect slice of indie pop that uses influences such as Phil Spector to more obvious Jesus and Mary Chain/ My Bloody Valentine's waves of reverb. The vocals on all the tracks including this one are mixed very low and ultra conservatively in the tracks and you find yourself almost voweling the worlds as opposed to singing the non de-script lyrics apart from the occasional chorus hook which you can make out as it's usually the title of the track. This is probably nit picking and small potatoes but if I would imagine even Bob Dylan cocking his ear to the radio going *perfect Dylan drawl* "for gods sake boy e-nun-ciate your words goddamit" you can imagine the rest.
As previously mentioned Papercuts are a one man band in the studio with Quever taking the role of Vocals,Guitars, Organ, Drums as well as being the co-producer (along with Thom Monahan) and songwriter of the material here within. I would have to say that to the casual listener or even hard edged music fanatic (to which I probably fall into both categories) I cannot see the join, the sound is faultless dreamy soundscape and even atmospheric at the same time as being a personal document of the man pulling the strings. Each track that follows throughout the album is a freshly sound painted piece that is definitely held together as a whole, which unlike a lot of the records released in today's individual track download world of the moment this is one that should be listened to as a complete piece. I don't know if this is going to be the definitive album from Jason Quever but it's definitely in the post.
Label: Sup Pop
Release Date: 28/02/11
Link:http://www.myspace.com/thepapercuts
'Originally posted on The 405'
No comments:
Post a Comment