ChaosResolved
11-10-2005, 03:08 PM
Paulson
All At Once
Release Date: 11/22/2005(US)
http://www.decoymusic.com/images/trackingthetrends/paulson.gif
Website: Paulson (http://www.paulsonisaband.com)
Label: One Day Savior (http://www.onedaysavior.com)
Buy Here: Interpunk (http://www.interpunk.com/item.cfm?Item=116169&)
Listen Here: Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/paulson)
Tracklisting:
Voids
Under Crowns
Window Frames
Programs
Miami Current
Not by a Long Shot
Ultra High
All at Once
I Knew You When
What Now
~~~~~
Eighteen months after its debut release, Paulson steps back up to the plate this November with All at Once. This New Jersey based quintet made a big splash with its first album, Variations, which effortlessly combined elements of emo, punk, hardcore, alt-rock, and indie rock based genres. After signing with east-coast independent label One Day Savior and re-releasing this gem of an album, Pauslon still commands little popularity outside of their native state, but with a stellar sophomore album to its name, this band is about to blow up in a big way.
Few bands have made as much progress in the past four years as Paulson. Ridiculous Engine, the band's 2002 extended play, didn't stray too much out of the punk realm, relying on tried and true formulas for song-writing and offering little more than fruitless pleasures for the ears. Yet, this was the band during its early stages. Paulson was a young entity, struggling to grab hold of its roots and hone in on a specific sound that separated themselves from the cluttered Jersey music scene. Shortly after this release the band collectively decided to put 100% into its music as the band members quit their day jobs and left college to support their next release Variations (on a theme), which was self-released by the band in 2003 as an extended play and expanded into their first full length a year later under the helm of Initial Records.
Variations was a huge step forward for the band, layering aggressive drum n' bass rock with emotive vocals and lyrics which stripped the east coast down to its foundations and presented a clear picture of the band's vision for themselves as passionate musicians who allow that passion to spill unrestrained into their music. Paulson came into its own in this album, showing that it is such a commodity to the music world because it can write catchy songs that avoid the stagnant, stale flavor that so many of its contemporaries resort to using. Although Variations stylistically wasn't in a league of its own, Paulson managed to detach itself from its neighbors through intelligent song writing and creative interaction between the songs in the album; and even though Variations lacked variety, it was yet one more indicator of the bubbling potential of this band.
Then everything came to a halt. Just months after the release of Variations, Initial Records closed its doors and Paulson found itself without a home. Luckily, One Day Savior was on the lookout for talented rising acts and promptly lifted the band up and shipped them off into its first studio stint to begin work on its follow up effort. This was exactly what the band needed--a chance to evolve their sound to the professional level.
The results are stunning. All at Once focuses the band's sound ten-fold, putting a hard emphasis on the band's amazing song-writing skills and taking a departure from the less mature punk-influenced songs of the past. It's difficult to really get a handle on this album if you are a returning fan. Variations presented a band with jarring time signatures, muddy vocals, and oftentimes harsh instrumentation. The odd time signatures are still around in All at Once, but everything else has been washed away and cleaned up in order to showcase a tightened cohesion in the band. All at Once ventures into a friendly territory. The music is playful and serene, offering a dose of electronic sampling infused with dancing keyboards and matching drum lines to suit. The only way the guitars could fit into this new sound would be to lay back and rely on pedal effects to smooth out the rough edges. And so they do. Everything in the band's past has been leading up to All at Once, where Paulson fully blooms into the band it always thought it could be.
Paulson joins the rank of fellow artists dredg, Codeseven, Kaddisfly, and Circa Surive in its artful depiction of its craft. Clocking in under forty minutes, All at Once doesn't give off the impression of being a complex listen, but what the album lacks in length it makes up in richness of sound. Every second of the album is stuff with a full sonic environment that is devoid of fluff and filler. As a whole, All at Once has a dreamy, surreal feel to it. Waves of guitar effects and jittery keyboards detach the album from an organic foundation and instead launch it into an extended dreamscape where Logan's strained vocals keep the listener anchored to a tangible force. There is a fair amount of the "old Paulson" sound contained within All at Once, but everything has been magnified and enhanced through the electronic aspect of the album. Every idea has been extended to its natural ending, building up a furious momentum that shakes the foundation of the surreal nature of the album, but inevitably settles into a self-sustained state of awareness.
As previously reported, the song-writing in All at Once is top notch and displays five musicians who have learned how to play to each other's strengths over years of performing together. "Voids," the lead off track, introduces the album with a series of electronic beeps that quickly collides with a momentous drum n' bass ascension and transverses across several spacey segues before reaching a full breakdown in the last chorus. Each chorus adds to the tension and the song, heightened by the off-kilter vocals which excrete a sense of longing. Then, as quickly as it came, the song lapses into the comfort of the electronic beeps. "Window Frames" is a full throttle ride into the surreal realm of the album, featuring crazy tempos, pedal effects, and electronic glitches for good measure. The vocals here are much more natural as Logan takes advantage of the less aggressive track to explore a vocal front that concentrates on harmonies. Fortunately, this works out really well to complement the mellow and haunting feel of the album, which is continued in "Programs." Here, Logan creates a natural vocal distortion to accompany the fluttering guitars of the albums. The song does not offer much in build-up, but instead slowly creeps into a unexpectedly chilling finish. I think "Programs" is the strongest track on the album, as it accentuates the band's creative song-writing, achieves a cerebral transcendence, and shows off Logan’s newfound vocal excellence. "Ultra High" switches into a faster tempo, dropping much of the electronic influence and paying homage to the punk-influence of the past. It's a fun song with a nice lengthened bridge that puts a bit of meat on the song. The last three songs of the album, "All at Once," "I Knew You When," and "What Now" are a fabulous finish to a strong album. Paulson pulls out all the tricks, grabs a violin, some keyboards, jams out on the computer, and crashes the party with an epic finale fit only for a band as daring as them.
All at Once is as fragile as it is aggressive, simultaneously invoking a surreal feeling and driving forward with the aggressive edge that speaks to the band's history. As a fan of the band, I'm delighted to see such phenomenal progression in its new music. Paulson shows that they have what it takes to rise out of the infinite abyss of the underground and perhaps make a run for the "majors." It would be a crime to music if Paulson were never able to get its music out to a larger audience. The songs the band creates are too good to be limited to the ears of thousands--they seek the company of millions. There aren't many times where I'll sing the praises of an album and declare that it is readily consumable by the public at large, so take note: Paulson is the real deal.
~Jordan Volz
All At Once
Release Date: 11/22/2005(US)
http://www.decoymusic.com/images/trackingthetrends/paulson.gif
Website: Paulson (http://www.paulsonisaband.com)
Label: One Day Savior (http://www.onedaysavior.com)
Buy Here: Interpunk (http://www.interpunk.com/item.cfm?Item=116169&)
Listen Here: Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/paulson)
Tracklisting:
Voids
Under Crowns
Window Frames
Programs
Miami Current
Not by a Long Shot
Ultra High
All at Once
I Knew You When
What Now
~~~~~
Eighteen months after its debut release, Paulson steps back up to the plate this November with All at Once. This New Jersey based quintet made a big splash with its first album, Variations, which effortlessly combined elements of emo, punk, hardcore, alt-rock, and indie rock based genres. After signing with east-coast independent label One Day Savior and re-releasing this gem of an album, Pauslon still commands little popularity outside of their native state, but with a stellar sophomore album to its name, this band is about to blow up in a big way.
Few bands have made as much progress in the past four years as Paulson. Ridiculous Engine, the band's 2002 extended play, didn't stray too much out of the punk realm, relying on tried and true formulas for song-writing and offering little more than fruitless pleasures for the ears. Yet, this was the band during its early stages. Paulson was a young entity, struggling to grab hold of its roots and hone in on a specific sound that separated themselves from the cluttered Jersey music scene. Shortly after this release the band collectively decided to put 100% into its music as the band members quit their day jobs and left college to support their next release Variations (on a theme), which was self-released by the band in 2003 as an extended play and expanded into their first full length a year later under the helm of Initial Records.
Variations was a huge step forward for the band, layering aggressive drum n' bass rock with emotive vocals and lyrics which stripped the east coast down to its foundations and presented a clear picture of the band's vision for themselves as passionate musicians who allow that passion to spill unrestrained into their music. Paulson came into its own in this album, showing that it is such a commodity to the music world because it can write catchy songs that avoid the stagnant, stale flavor that so many of its contemporaries resort to using. Although Variations stylistically wasn't in a league of its own, Paulson managed to detach itself from its neighbors through intelligent song writing and creative interaction between the songs in the album; and even though Variations lacked variety, it was yet one more indicator of the bubbling potential of this band.
Then everything came to a halt. Just months after the release of Variations, Initial Records closed its doors and Paulson found itself without a home. Luckily, One Day Savior was on the lookout for talented rising acts and promptly lifted the band up and shipped them off into its first studio stint to begin work on its follow up effort. This was exactly what the band needed--a chance to evolve their sound to the professional level.
The results are stunning. All at Once focuses the band's sound ten-fold, putting a hard emphasis on the band's amazing song-writing skills and taking a departure from the less mature punk-influenced songs of the past. It's difficult to really get a handle on this album if you are a returning fan. Variations presented a band with jarring time signatures, muddy vocals, and oftentimes harsh instrumentation. The odd time signatures are still around in All at Once, but everything else has been washed away and cleaned up in order to showcase a tightened cohesion in the band. All at Once ventures into a friendly territory. The music is playful and serene, offering a dose of electronic sampling infused with dancing keyboards and matching drum lines to suit. The only way the guitars could fit into this new sound would be to lay back and rely on pedal effects to smooth out the rough edges. And so they do. Everything in the band's past has been leading up to All at Once, where Paulson fully blooms into the band it always thought it could be.
Paulson joins the rank of fellow artists dredg, Codeseven, Kaddisfly, and Circa Surive in its artful depiction of its craft. Clocking in under forty minutes, All at Once doesn't give off the impression of being a complex listen, but what the album lacks in length it makes up in richness of sound. Every second of the album is stuff with a full sonic environment that is devoid of fluff and filler. As a whole, All at Once has a dreamy, surreal feel to it. Waves of guitar effects and jittery keyboards detach the album from an organic foundation and instead launch it into an extended dreamscape where Logan's strained vocals keep the listener anchored to a tangible force. There is a fair amount of the "old Paulson" sound contained within All at Once, but everything has been magnified and enhanced through the electronic aspect of the album. Every idea has been extended to its natural ending, building up a furious momentum that shakes the foundation of the surreal nature of the album, but inevitably settles into a self-sustained state of awareness.
As previously reported, the song-writing in All at Once is top notch and displays five musicians who have learned how to play to each other's strengths over years of performing together. "Voids," the lead off track, introduces the album with a series of electronic beeps that quickly collides with a momentous drum n' bass ascension and transverses across several spacey segues before reaching a full breakdown in the last chorus. Each chorus adds to the tension and the song, heightened by the off-kilter vocals which excrete a sense of longing. Then, as quickly as it came, the song lapses into the comfort of the electronic beeps. "Window Frames" is a full throttle ride into the surreal realm of the album, featuring crazy tempos, pedal effects, and electronic glitches for good measure. The vocals here are much more natural as Logan takes advantage of the less aggressive track to explore a vocal front that concentrates on harmonies. Fortunately, this works out really well to complement the mellow and haunting feel of the album, which is continued in "Programs." Here, Logan creates a natural vocal distortion to accompany the fluttering guitars of the albums. The song does not offer much in build-up, but instead slowly creeps into a unexpectedly chilling finish. I think "Programs" is the strongest track on the album, as it accentuates the band's creative song-writing, achieves a cerebral transcendence, and shows off Logan’s newfound vocal excellence. "Ultra High" switches into a faster tempo, dropping much of the electronic influence and paying homage to the punk-influence of the past. It's a fun song with a nice lengthened bridge that puts a bit of meat on the song. The last three songs of the album, "All at Once," "I Knew You When," and "What Now" are a fabulous finish to a strong album. Paulson pulls out all the tricks, grabs a violin, some keyboards, jams out on the computer, and crashes the party with an epic finale fit only for a band as daring as them.
All at Once is as fragile as it is aggressive, simultaneously invoking a surreal feeling and driving forward with the aggressive edge that speaks to the band's history. As a fan of the band, I'm delighted to see such phenomenal progression in its new music. Paulson shows that they have what it takes to rise out of the infinite abyss of the underground and perhaps make a run for the "majors." It would be a crime to music if Paulson were never able to get its music out to a larger audience. The songs the band creates are too good to be limited to the ears of thousands--they seek the company of millions. There aren't many times where I'll sing the praises of an album and declare that it is readily consumable by the public at large, so take note: Paulson is the real deal.
~Jordan Volz