Papercuts- Fading Parade (Sub Pop- 2011)
~by Gabe McBride
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Papercuts is California native, Jason Quever’s band, that specializes in soft but expansive, pastoral folk-pop. Quever’s breathy, frequently almost whispered vocals set the morose tone for the aptly titled Fading Parade, and he accentuates this point with song titles like ‘I’ll See You Later I guess’, ‘Chills’, and ‘Wait Til I’m Dead’. So maybe Quever has had every girl he ever dated take her own life in state of adolescent ennui, or maybe he just had a bad vegan egg salad sandwich… every day before he went into the studio… but Fading Parade is decidedly one-note, that note being ‘dysthymic teen boy’.
It becomes an even bigger problem for Papercuts when the listener takes into account the band’s previous work, particularly 2004’s Mockingbird (Antenna Farm) which trod substantively similar, melancholic ground, making Fading Parade a sequel rather than an actual new album. Quever is clearly talented, as is obvious intermittently throughout the album, and most apparent on Lennon-esque, piano driven 'Marie Says You've Changed', but someone needs to tell this kid to lighten up a bit.
For Fans of: The Morning Benders, Vetiver
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