Weekend of Compromise,
The Paper ChampionsOne of the joys for writing for this site is that occasionally, just occasionally you will get sent a proper little gem of an album by a band you’ve never heard of on a label you’ve also never heard of. THE PAPER CHAMPIONS, a four piece from Atlanta, Georgia, could well appear to be the band I’ve been looking for to fill the void TGUK left when they lost their edge. To rephrase; this is a damn fine mid paced emotive rock record.
A lot has been said about emo and frankly I can’t be arsed to say anymore, but this is a really fine effort. It sounds truly genuine; no forced and/or out of place screams, no over the top pretentiously awful lyrics and no whinging pre-balls dropping vocals; it almost sounds almost to good to be true. Fortunately though, it is true. Whilst some bands rely on heavy beat-down sections with blood curdling vocal torture to pad up and disguise otherwise mediocre to poor songs, TPC have clearly a knack of writing splendidly well written and clever songs. There are no instant cheap thrills in the form of mad 80’s metal guitar licks or brutal blast beat drumming but the end result is something so much more satisfying and rewarding. A few great melodies served up alongside some lovely rich harmonies topped off with perfect song structures seems to be the dish of the day and believe me, with a recipe this good; I’d come back for seconds and thirds every time.
Guitar lines intertwine with each other in an almost Siamese way across the eleven tracks whether it be a rockier number, ‘The Selfish Kind’ for example, or lower key tracks like, ‘Believe’ or indeed, the album’s closing number, ‘Sleep’ which is a stunningly beautiful song capable of sending a shiver down the most hardened of spines. As mentioned earlier, the vocal melodies are always spot on and only help to make the record even easier on the ear. It all adds to up to a very solid and highly consistent release.
This could well be a perfect cure to the Sunday morning hangover blues; perfectly melancholic and just generally delicate in all the right places; aurally forgiving if you will. But don’t get me wrong, there is power and energy on just about every track; however it is channelled in such a way you can’t help but feel soothed by this album. Not far short of stunning.
Mike
www.thepaperchampions.com
www.reasonyrecords.com
