Paper Arrows play some pretty amazing aural tricks – one moment they evoke Jack Joseph Puig-produced Canadian band Big Wreck with its thundering 22″ kick and triple amped hollow body guitars, the next lead singer Joe Goodkin sounds like the love child of Neil Young and Thom Yorke.  But somehow the band manages to avoid the amateurish dilemma of failing to lock onto an identifiable sound; if something binds the widely varied nature of Paper Arrows songs it’s the open-sounding, live-feeling and beautifully recorded production and performance.  They could stand head-to-head with Jason Falkner, Goo Goo Dolls, Jellyfish and never risk getting lumped in with overly-precious mandatory ballads by Nickelback.  There is something too honest and raw in their latest recordings that include everything from 80’s synths to glockenspiel, player piano to harmonium and yet feel like the main ingredient is lots and lots of moving air – expansive and organic, rootsy and totally contemporary, this is gorgeously realized stuff indeed.

With its debut record Look Alive just a year old, Chicago’s Paper Arrows is back with a second full-length, Things We Would Rather Lose, was released by Quell Records on April 7, 2009.

In contrast to the quiet loss-laced and winter-inspired Look Alive, Things We Would Rather Lose features a robust, diverse sound, which was captured at I.V. Lab Studios and Gravity Studios in Chicago by producer Jay Marino, and mixed by Manny Sanchez (The Uglysuit, Zwan, The Hush Sound).

Asked about the name Paper Arrows, Goodkin explains: “I liked the idea that songs are arrows that you fire into the air, hoping that they hit the intended targets… and Jay’s approach to producing the album was so conductive to that idea.” Speaking on the new release, Goodkin explains: “We really had no pre-conceived notions of what we wanted to do with any of the 9 songs we wound up recording [out of a collection of 25 written since Look Alive was released], and that freed us up to use a variety of instruments and sounds. I really like the idea that what holds the album together is the lyrics, and that the different sounds and styles emulate and convey the complex process of recovering from loss.”

But MusicZeitgeist.com wanted more!  We demanded answers!   Here is what we got from the band:

MZ: Who?

Joe Goodkin: guitar, vox; Jay Marino: bass, guitar, mandolin, background vox; Darren Garvey: drums, piano, organ; Drew Scalercio: piano, organ; Anthony Burton: bass, background vox.  Makes it sounds like we have two bassists.  Which we don’t.  At least not at the same time.  Didn’t Ned’s Atomic Dustbin have two bassists?

MZ: What?

Rock music.  Pop music.  Indie music.  Indie music?  Sure.  Thoughtful, melodic, heartfelt above all else.  We hope.

MZ: Why?

Because every generation throws a hero up the pop charts.

MZ: Until When?

Until we run out of things about which to write and ways in which to write about them.  Is that the correct sentence structure for that thought?  Did you at least get the sense of it?  ‘Cause that’s what’s really important. We’re not sticklers for grammar.  Actually, we kind of are.  In our own little way.

MZ: Where?

Indoors in the winter.  Outdoors in the summer.  No spring or fall in Chicago.

Paper Arrows host an all-ages CD release for their latest album “Things We Would Rather Lose” at Schubas in Chicago – May 17th, 2009, 7:00 p.m.  $8 adv/$10 door.  3159 N. Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60657

Find out more at:
http://www.paperarrows.com
http://www.quellrecords.com

Listen now to “‘Til I Couldn’t Cry” by Paper Arrows at MusicZeitgeist.com

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Here is a video that shows Stevie throwing down a surprise drum solo that blows anything else you may have seen out of the water. This should throw some gasoline on yr next Rock Band sesh.

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October 1, 2008
Week Of Shows, Episode Five

Somewhere north of a Verve reunion and south of a Police reunion, a My Bloody Valentine reunion has rated as one of rock music lovers’ best hoped-for events.

All artists should be as blessed as MBV during their unofficial retirement. Since the release of their critically loved but commercially underperforming landmark album Loveless 17 years ago, appreciation for them has grown exponentially. New generations that never had a chance to experience them in their prime have repeatedly found comfort in their iconic layers of dense guitars and whispered vocals — inspiring many to emulate that sound in their absence.

Returning to Los Angeles for the first of two sold-out nights at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, MBV demonstrated that not only could they pick up exactly where they left off since their last live appearance in 1993, but they would improve upon their legacy in the process. Taking the stage, mad scientist Kevin Shields muttered a simple hello before he and his band mates rapidly ushered the audience into “I Only Said” and “When You Sleep,” much akin to throwing infants in the deep end of a pool for a first swim lesson.

Sounding completely timeless and original despite the numerous pretenders which have followed in their wake, MBV was honed and purposeful in their delivery, accompanied throughout by top-notch video projections and a dazzling light show (inclusive of blinding, seizure-inducing strobes). Not content to stimulate just the sight and hearing of the audience, they played at an ear-hemorrhaging volume, ensuring their music could literally be felt rattling through the body as well. (Reports from other stops on the tour have placed show volumes at around 130dB; by way of comparison, a pneumatic riveter at four feet yields 125dB and a jet engine at 100 feet yields 140dB.) In fact, for the show’s finale, MBV broke free from the structure of “You Made Me Realise” and descended into a 15-minute juggernaut of noise – a sonic tidal wave that caused most of the audience to wince and cover their ears for the duration (although for some, it was clearly a trance-inducing, enlightening experience — like the girl behind me who was smiling and shuddering with pleasure in the chaotic wash, eyes closed and ears unprotected). Then suddenly, as if nothing had happened, the band simultaneously re-entered the song and finished it, unassumingly slinking from the stage moments later.

If there were any complaints to be leveled, they would be against the building rather than the band. As the Santa Monica Civ is nothing more than a concrete and steel bunker dressed in lingerie, the sound quality in the auditorium left something to be desired. It’s not as if MBV is known for aural definition, but at times during the night, songs became inexplicably muddled, likely due to the reverberating quality of the bare hall. And the vocals, while not exactly MBV’s focal point, were all but inaudible. Periodically, as Shields and co-singer/co-guitarist Bilinda Butcher would step up to their mics, (clearly unintentional) feedback indicated their barely present voices were as loud as they were going to get without contributing an extra, unwanted layer of noise to the mix.

Regardless, their performance was a bombastic, electrifying affair, leaving fans far from loveless by the time it was over. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, but in the case of My Bloody Valentine, their return has proven that fondness to be justified.

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