The Paper Chase - Someday This Could All Be Yours Vol. 1
Rating
RIYL
CursiveDrive Like Jehu
Xiu Xiu
Modest Mouse
Release Date
05/26/2009
Label
Kill Rock StarsTracklist
1. If Nobody Moves Nobody Will Get Hurt (The Extinction)2. I'm Going to Heaven With or Without You (The Forest Fire)
3. The Common Cold (The Epidemic)
4. The Laying of Hands the Speaking of Tongues (The Mass Hysteria)
5. Your Money or Your Life (The Comet)
6. What Should We Do With Your Body? (The Lightning)
7. This is a Rape (The Flood)
8. The Small of Your Back the Nape of Your Neck (The Blizzard)
9. This is Only a Test (The Tornado)
10. We Have Ways to Make You Talk (The Human Condition)
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The Paper Chase have always felt like the Cain to Cursive’s Abel; both playing a brand of noise-rock defined by an often frenetic mix of horns, strings, and keys, but where Cursive deals with darker themes with rhetoric and metaphor, The Paper Chase is blunt to the point of offensive, especially when they delve into such topics as rape and murder with such enthusiasm. This macabre bent has been The Paper Chase’s shtick for their past four full-lengths, and Someday This Could All Be Yours Vol. 1 continues this tradition. They waste no time setting the mood, opening the album with singer/writer/producer John Congelton’s low-fidelity, down-trodden voice over a creaking door hinge.
The Paper Chase creates their trademark chilling atmosphere using two techniques. The most obvious is how Congelton’s voice strains with an unnerving urgency, raising to a terrified fever pitch and losing its composure as situations become direr. Second is the sound effects, from the pig’s squeal set over the top of an emergency broadcast test in “What Should We Do with Your Body? (The Lightning)” to the air raid siren that kicks off “This is Only a Test (The Tornado)," Congelton’s work creating Halloween sound effects has definitely started to invade The Paper Chase. It is a bit over the top and, truthfully, the sound effects aren’t necessary. The band does such a masterful job creating the desired atmosphere in the sparse nature of how each instrument is played. Instead of playing a couple instruments in a highly technical fashion, Congelton and company layer a myriad of different sounds, all playing a simple role, to build up and create the songs. Take for example the twisting, writhing guitars of “Your Money or Your Life (The Comet), or the stark keys of “I’m Going to Heaven With or Without You (The Forest Fire)”, which could be lifted from any number of horror flicks. This technique creates an overwhelming feeling of desolation that makes the carnival ride sound effects seem like a cheap gimmick for a band that can’t really pull off the mood they’re shooting for. The Paper Chase can and the superfluous effects need to go.
While there is a lot of familiar territory covered on their latest album, we do see the influence of Congelton’s work in just about every genre and with just about every band pushing its way into the music, creating their most accessible, and consequently their strongest, effort yet. From the balladic “This is Only a Test (The Tornado)” to the most depressing dance track ever in “The Common Cold (The Epidemic)” the band shows not only their versatility but also their ability to write a comprehensive start-to-finish record. To write songs with such diversity is one thing; to make it all fit together and be listenable is another.
Don’t expect to find the feel-good hit of the summer on Someday This Could All be Yours Vol. 1. What you will find, though, is ten more songs that stand out amongst The Paper Chase’s already strong catalogue of Songs Not to Fall Asleep To.
--Greg Burchell
Comments
Telford, PA
This is without contest my album of the year so far. Their most consistent work. While it's undeniable that they wallow firmly in the macabre, I don't think it feels so much like schtick. Other bands do it so much more, and to lesser effect. They become cartoony with it. With the Paper Chase, it's always dark but as a metaphor for deeper topics.