FADED PAPER FIGURES - NEW MEDIUM

Faded Paper Figures are a band I've reviewed before and over the holidays I purchased their entire back catalog and I've been exploring their earlier material ever since.  "New Medium" is their second album and honestly, this group is nothing if not consistent.

Faded Paper Figures combine everything you loved about 80s alternative and new wave sounds in one band.  From the introspective lyrics to the synths...  It's all incorporated here.  

This trio is comprised of John Williams, Heather Alden and Kael Alden.  Williams is the main vocalist, but sometimes Heather Alden takes over and runs the show.  Williams has a soft voice reminiscent of Neil Tennent from the Pet Shop Boys.  He often sounds like he's whispering secrets in your ear.  His form of confiding vocal delivery is extremely effective and mellow.  Check out 'Rewind' to hear his emotive style.  You also get to hear Heather Alden on this one.  She also has a relaxed and laid back vocal style although in her case, the delivery is more sultry and seductive; despite the subject matter.  Listen to 'Invent It All Again' to get the full impact of her when she's running the show.  It's lovely.

One of the things I like about this band is the fact you can put the disc in and let it go without worry.  I usually play FPF while I'm at work designing.  It has the most incredible balance of relaxing sounds to let your mind focus on your work while at the same time adding inspiration to whatever you're doing.  And the lyrics are sung clearly.  It's easy to pick them up and sing along.  Which I often find myself doing as I go along.

Some of my favorite tracks on this CD are 'Small Talk', 'Invent It All Again', 'Rewind', 'The Cold Wars' and 'Limelight'.  Frankly, the entire album is really great, but those 5 tracks are the ones I picked up first and sing along with when they come on.  I'm learning the others as I go, but these are obviously the ones I feel most connected to.  On the last CD I reviewed, there was a track I wasn't completely into.  But on this one, I'm enjoying the entire disc from start to finish.

I'm quite fond of bands who take a sound and somehow make it uniquely their own.  Faded Paper Figures does this and it's both nostalgic and invigorating to hear new music in the vein of material I loved as a kid.  Even though they have that sound, it somehow doesn't feel dated or old.  Instead, it's fresh, new and exciting.  You can't go wrong picking up this CD.

My final words:  WORTH EVERY PENNY AND AVAILABLE NOW ON BANDCAMP!  GO GET IT!

FADED PAPER FIGURES - NEW MEDIUM
01. Invent It All Again
02. Limelight
03. You Know What I Mean
04. Rewind
05. Small Talk
06. One More Crash
07. The Cold Wars
08. When The Book Ends
09. Kodachrome Earth
10. Changed
11. New Medium 

FADED PAPER FIGURES - RELICS

I kinda stumbled across this group on youtube one day.  I was listening to some music and one of their songs came up next in rotation before I had the chance to move on to something else I wanted to hear.  Needless to say, I stuck around, listened to the song and immediately went to Discogs and ordered the CD.  

Although this group would probably be lumped in the electronic music genre, they're actually more like Little Dragon in the sense they combine synths with acoustic instruments and drums.  Little Dragon tends to be more jazz oriented, while Faded Paper Figures is more blues based traditional rock.

There was much cause for concern when I heard 'Not The End Of The World (Even As We Know It)'.  It's the third track on the album and seems to be a response to the song REM released back in the 80's, 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)'.  It even copies the vocal arrangement from the original.  I wasn't happy to see that as I would normally interpret songs like this as unimaginative and annoying.  It's just different enough to give it some credibility, but not by much.  However, the rest of the album is quite stellar and I'm very happy with it.

The first song that strikes me as utterly beautiful is 'Lost Stars'.  This song has the most wonderful melody and harmonizing.  It's truly magnificent.  However, it's not the best track on the album.  In my opinion there are two that are simply stunning.  The first is 'On The Line'.  The acoustic guitar on this track is absolutely perfect combined with the electronic keyboards and vocals.  There's a strong build that goes on just slightly too long towards the end of the song, but it resolves itself nicely and in the end, it's a great tune.

It's followed by what I consider to be the best song on the album and not surprisingly, the track I originally heard by the band is 'Spare Me'.  Oddly enough, this song strikes me in a number of ways.  I won't presume to know a lot about this group, but they have a few lines in this song that make me wonder if they were LDS and left the church at some point.  Living in Utah, you get a great deal of exposure to the church and its teachings.  You also get a lot of exposure to arguments for and against the church.  I recently read an argument against the church compiled by a gentleman and many of the points he brings up as he presents his case show up in this song.

The tune discusses pre-Columbian steel claimed by the LDS church to have existed in North American before it was brought over by the Europeans.  It also mentions the lack of geographical evidence for the cities and places mentioned in the Church's book of scripture, the Book Of Mormon with the line, "Geographically tied to some place you can't find, please, spare me".  They also mention the seer stones the founder of the LDS church used to translate the book from ancient gold plates they believe were given to the prophet from God.  But it's the chorus that really grabs my attention...

"You said some gorgeous things,
But only half the time
only half the time,
I lived your gorgeous dream,
For only half a life
only half a life"

It's this line more than any other that makes me believe this is a song written about losing your belief in your church and leaving that faith.  Although I believe it's referring specifically to Mormonism, you can interpret it with any loss of faith.

The rest of the album maintains the solid material using a male and female vocalist to interplay and create lovely harmonies.  I can't believe I didn't know this group before hearing that song.  A little online research has shown they have other albums out and I will start adding them to my collection as I think this band is wonderful!

So if you're looking for something new to sink your ears in, Faded Paper Figures may be just the swab you need to clean your aural ports.  My final words:  SPARKLING PIXIE DUST MUSIC YOU CAN FLY WITH!

FADED PAPER FIGURES - RELICS
01. Breathing
02. Wake Up Dead
03. Not The End Of The World (Even As We Know It)
04. Lost Stars
05. Fellaheen
06. On The Line
07. Spare Me
08. Who Will Save Us Now? 
09. Horizons Fall
10. Real Lies
11. What You See
12. Forked Paths