Papercuts

After years under the Papercuts moniker, and with equal time spent behind the boards of RSTB faves from Luna to Skygreen Leopards, Massage to Cass McCombs, Jason Quever returns with a new album that sets in like a summer’s breeze. A return to San Francisco finds Quever embracing a sound that’s littered with a delightfully airy ‘60s sheen. From the harpsichord romp of “I Want My Jacket Back,” to spacewalk tumble of opener “The Lodger,” and” the string-laden chamber pop of “My Sympathies,” the record tumbles through the bookish end of the decade. It’s nodding politely to The Zombies, The Kinks, and The Left Banke all at once. Though, with the usual Papercuts flair Quever makes it feel effortless, a collage of pop moments that float through memories of the past rather than an exercise in pastiche.

The record soaks iteslf in the color of dreams, herding those collaged pop moments into billowing lights of pink and soft green. Any ‘60s-flecked pop has a melancholy heart, but Quever makes the longing feel hopeful. Lost in a sea of strums, swells of organs, and the swoon of strings Past Life Regression creates a daydream in rotoscope, flickering past the listener with an understated grace. Quever’s never missed a step in his tenure under the Papercuts name, but this might be his most bouyant and joyful record yet. This is no record for background listening, it takes more than one tumble down Quever’s rabbit hole to absorb its diorama of delights.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.