MP3: Papercuts – “Future Primative”
Papercuts’ You Can Have What You Want is the newest phase in Jason Quever’s ongoing pop investigations. The relatively earthbound happy-sad pop of Mockingbird & Can’t Go Back is now launched into the vault of the skies. Here Quever delves further into epic, hazy pop using mostly vintage organs, pulsing bass & Kraut-via-Ringo-inspired drum rhythms. Intact from those earlier efforts are Quever’s sense of arrangement and drama, as well as his soaring vocals, draped in reverb gauze.
The words reveal an obsession with mortality and things cosmic, while sonically the voice acts as another instrument. This obsessively all analog effort (no computer processing here whatsoever!) cuts across several eras of dreamy sound: 80’s/90’s Creation & 4AD records, The Zombies, 60’s French pop, even CAN’s Future Days, & then there’s the inevitable connection to former tourmates Beach House & Grizzly Bear. Indeed, Beach House’s Alex Scally helped with some of the arrangements, but You Can Have What You Want is its own strain of addictive pop. For many, it will be the blissful / melancholy jam of the summer.
What the press said about Papercuts’ Can’t Go Back:
“Bay Area singer-songwriter Jason Quever disguises his songs’ weighty themes in lush delicacy. By injecting overtly somber contemplation into summery, feel-good pop instrumentation, Quever wears his West Coast influences – not to mention his heart – on his sleeve.”-NPR
“It takes a few seconds of Papercuts’ second album, Can’t Go Back, to think that maybe you’ve stumbled upon something special, a delicate mood piece made to slice through the din and chaos of modern life.” -Pitchfork (8.3)
“…this is easily the most exciting new pop album of a still young year. Can’t Go Back grabs you with the first flurry of guitar strums, all cool, voluminous tone and three-dimensional space. It’s the first salvo in what emerges as a damn-near perfect album, each cut luminous and distinct from the others, yet arranged in a way that flows easily from start to finish” -Dusted
“…uncorking a clutch of gorgeous emotion-drenched ditties in an affecting, androgynous croon.” -SPIN
“It’s as complete a sunshine daydream as you’re likely to hear this year.” -SF Bay Guardian
“Judging by the majority of Can’t Go Back, Quever has succeeded on a scale that he himself may not have imagined. There is a swirling, dreamlike quality to Quever’s work that is balanced by a forceful yearning that escapes many in the pop field.” -The Dallas Observer
“It’s magnificent. It’s clever and poppy and thought-provoking and, above all else, fun.” -The Stranger
“Proof that sometimes it feels good to feel bad. But like a four track-recording Brian Wilson, his catchy vocal melodies and whip-smart arrangements make these self-produced songs shine warmly” -SF Weekly
PAPERCUTS
04/24 San Francisco, CA Cafe Du Nord *
05/02 Arlington, VA Iota #
05/03 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom #
05/04 Petersborough, NH Glass Museum #
05/05 Winooski, VT Monkey House #
05/06 Allston, MA Harper’s Ferry #
05/07 Brooklyn, NY The Bell House #
05/10 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop #
05/11 Athens, OH Union Bar and Grill #
05/12 Chicago, IL AV-aerie #
05/13 Pontiac, MI The Pike Room at The Crofoot #
05/14 London, ON Call The Office #
05/15 Toronto, ON Horseshoe Tavern #
05/16 Buffalo, NY Big Orbit’s Soundlab #
05/17 Pittsfield, MA Copperworks #
* = w/ Cryptacize, The Finches
# = w/ Vetiver
Papercuts
You Can Have What You Want
(Gnomonsong)
Street date: April 14, 2009
01 Once We Walked In The Sunlight
02 A Dictator’s Lament
03 The Machine Will Tell Us So
04 A Peculiar Hallelujah
05 Jet Plane
06 Dead Love
07 Future Primitive
08 You Can Have What You Want
09 The Void
10 The Wolf
PAPERCUTS LINKS:
MySpace – www.myspace.com/thepapercuts
Press Materials – www.gnomonsong.com/papercuts