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| | Safe in the Sound | | | Music Artist : | | Paper Raincoat | | Music Style : | | General | | Release Date : | | 2008-07-29 | | Store Price : | | $7.99 | | Artistopia's Price: $7.99 | |
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 sympathetic songs
Submitted on: 2009-08-10 |
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I picked up this fantastic EP at a Vienna Teng show where they opened for her. The band has only two members: Amber Rubarth and Alex Wong (both also multitalented solo artists.) This fact makes it pretty hard to believe that all the different elements that show up in each song could be reproduced by only three people live, but the two managed beautifully with the help of a cellist(/percussionist?) who I am sure was introduced but whose name I have inexcusably forgotten. Sorry, Mr. Cellist!
Anyway, the songs are catchy, the melodies are beautiful and have intricate backing instrumentation, both vocalists have excellent voices, and they harmonize well with each other. I love that they divide the singing equally here (though Rubarth probably took lead vocals more overall during their live show) - Wong has two songs where he takes the lead and Rubarth does harmony, and vice versa. Lyrically, the songs are very distinct and relatable emotional snapshots: "Sympathetic Vibrations" captures the breathless wonder of coming to a new place full of surprises, yet feeling that you belong there; "Brooklyn Blurs," the melancholy/fragility of late-night journeys and solitude (but it's somehow uptempo despite the wistfulness, and absolutely lovely.) "Motion Sickness" feels like almost the antithesis of "Sympathetic Vibrations": like homesickness and displacement, like enduring the strangenesses of a new place rather than enjoying them, knowing that eventually things will get better. The last and only truly sad song on the EP is "Safe in the Sound," whose lyrics express two different kinds of loneliness: that of abandonment, and that of abandoning.
The two words that I've often seen used to describe the Paper Raincoat are "charming" and "whimsical," and they describe their style as "pop-folk orchestral arrangements." I would call them "sympathetic." That is, they have a knack for creating songs that are both lovely to listen to and neither detached nor overwrought, and absolutely everyone whom I've made listen to these songs has liked them. I'm looking forward to when they release a full-length CD. |
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