If music is art, then Paperhaus are artists, their brushes composed of guitar and bass, and pens made of drum and vocals. They paint and draw sonic landscapes that project scenes of wonder, confusion, and awe onto the back of the listener’s mind. This Washington D.C. trio haven’t just entered the fray, they skydived into the middle of the battlefield.
Paperhaus shifts between atmospheric post-rock, seedy D.C. cabaret jazz, indie Beatles pop, and reverb-heavy grunge, all in only eight tracks. “Cairo” starts the album off with an upbeat texture-strong jam session, highlighted by bass and guitar solos that breathe life into the song. “432” sees the band emulating Nirvana in a way most wouldn’t recognize, strings. It features a heavy string section playing throughout its four-minute run, much like the cellos and violins heard in “Something In The Way.” This song also contains guitar and several layers of vocal harmonies, all soaked in reverb and chorus.
“Misery” takes the listener to that seedy D.C. cabaret mentioned before. With a minimalist beat and guitar melody, it’s up to the bass to take the weight of this song, and it does, with a heavy, yet mellow tune that makes the audience want to dance, or sit at the bar and drink all night long. The seven-minute-long jazz odyssey eventually picks up in both complexity and volume until it reaches a chaotic blues-rock anthem before finally fading into pure audial chaos.
In their self-titled debut, Paperhaus have taken the best parts of their influences, be it Sonic Youth, Radiohead, King Crimson, etc. and fused them together into a not only cohesive, but immensely powerful album.
In A Word: Visual
