Papercuts’ Jason Roberts Quever (photo courtesy of Gnomonsong)After some time away composing, recording and touring, Bay Area musician Jason Roberts Quever has put together another strong collection of dreamy, introspective songs – all taped in analog – for the April release You Can Have What You Want.
Quever carved out his place in the indie music industry with the release of Can’t Go Back in February of 2007 on Devendra Banhart‘s San Francisco indie label, Gnomonsong.
Unlike Can’t Go Back, this new release is much more subdued and sluggish whereas Can’t Go Back reached out with lighter songs and an emphasis on a mix of electro-pop and folk rock.
In an interview in December 2007 with Salad Days Music, and with the buzz factor on high after the release of Can’t Go Back, Quever talked about some of his major influences at the time, stating: “I have been listening to Broadcast a bit. My Bloody Valentine, of course. Leonard Cohen, Beach House, Issac Hayes, [and] Curtis Mayfield. I’m thinking of orchestrated stuff lately…Nuggets, always. Air.” All good choices.
The new album is good throughout, but the most notable songs include “Fatal Primitive”, “Dictator’s Lament” and the title track. If you are a big fan of melancholy, dream-like shoegaze, this album may be worth some of your precious bills. The album’s overall sound weighs in heavily on stumbling organ layers with emphasis on vocal reverberations.
After listening to it a few times, You Can Have What You Want is one of those albums that gets better with each subsequent listening, and again, especially if you like retro melancholy indie high on reverb and tracked in analog. You won’t be jumping around your apartment so save this one for listening to when you are relaxed or even in a somber mood.
“Future Primitive” – Papercuts from You Can Have Want You Want available April 14th – everywhere or via the band’s label, Gnomonsongs.
Other great songs from previous Papercuts’ releases:
“John Brown” – Papercuts from Can’t Go Back
“Take The 227th Exit” – Papercuts from Can’t Go Back
Prefix Magazine compared Papercuts’ music to “paisley underground ’60s revival” and repeated the over-done comparison to Beach House with a different spin, which I think is spot on. Here it is: “Comparisons to label mates Beach House wouldn’t be inaccurate, but Quever has an idiosyncratic voice all his own.” Indeed and indie.
Listen to more tracks and get more information at Papercuts’ MySpace page.