The Paper Scissors

What's so good?

In Loving Memory is a revelation. I am not overly familiar with the Paper Scissors, and what I assumed would be a slightly better than average album has been one of my favorites of 2011. Considering the amount of excellent music floating around, that is saying plenty.

The band released a self-titled EP soon after forming in 2006. Their debut album, Less Talk More Paper Scissors, followed in quick succession and was received with open arms by the Australian public. The lead single “We Don’t Walk” was particularly successful and was featured heavily by the Australian media.

In subsequent years, the band toured extensively, appearing at the Parklife, Falls, and Playground Weekender festivals (among others). Following these appearances was a national tour, co-headlined with fellow Sydney band Blue Juice. They also dropped from a 5-piece to the current line-up of frontman Jai Pyne, bassist Xavier Naughton, and drummer Ivan Lisyak.

An effortlessly flowing album, In Loving Memory has been four years in the making. The long wait for the second album can be attributed to the changing members and the everyday lives of an independent band, but primarily their perfectionism. This album will surely appease those fans craving a new submission.

The first single “Lung Sum” (released in late 2010) is a concrete rock song, with powerful bass and driving drums complimenting Pyne’s incredible howling tone. The two other band members are also featured on vocals, giving a great sense of wholeness to the track.

“On Your Hand” uses aggressive rhythms and vocals along with plenty of reverb to give a more experimental vibe. “Taller Than You Then,” the second single, continues along the same path, as driving and incisive as ever. Naughton’s heavy bass riffs are particularly prominent on this track. The finish is colossal, with brooding “Drunk Swim” perfectly bringing In Loving Memory to a conclusion.

The similarities to other groups are easily recognizable, but that does not take anything away from this superb band. In Loving Memory will bring the Paper Scissors into the public eye once again. Thank goodness for perfectionism. - Indie Shuffle

In some ways, despite being only 40 minutes long, 'In Loving Memory' is a truly exhausting record. The Aussie trio have packed so many ideas into the cauldron; it is a real surprise that the mix does not simply bubble up into ruin.

Instead, we are treated to one of the most indisputably forward thinking albums of 2011. The Paper Scissors’ sophomore record, this will inevitably be categorised as Indie Rock, but the sound is fiercely experimental. Whilst credit must go to the exceptionally industrious production job, the band simply knows how to make disparate styles and noises work as one entity.

Track one, ‘Disco Connect’, sets the awkward tone for much of the record, a brimming “soundscape” that is dreamy, busy and funky all at once. Whammy is set for the stars, shuddering alongside reggae-flavoured melodic guitar, gravelly punk bass and soulful vocals. ‘Dozens’, another highlight, sounds like you’re walking in on a psychedelic jam between The National, Gorillaz and God knows what else, and ‘Mechanism’ boasts harmonised vocals and sustained synth chords.

Essentially, this is not an album that you can just jump in. It manages to avoid sounding cluttered, largely thanks to the forceful interplay between instruments; e.g. when the drums are most frantic, they suddenly drop to allow tremolo to become more obvious, or when things begin to feel restrained, the jagged bass line will suddenly twist and evolve itself into something else.

This is dance-pop at its most immersive, music that will put you in a trance and then slap you out of it again. Reference points might include Modest Mouse or Foals (the latter can particularly be heard in the instrumentation). At the core though, The Paper Scissors are brilliantly unique. 'In Loving Memory' is not entirely free of filler, but this is still highly impressive stuff.

Album Rating: 8/10 - StereoBoard

ndie Album Of The Week: The Paper Scissors
In Loving Memory
Sandcastle Music
****

Sydney’s criminally underrated indie-rock heroes sure know how to open an album. ‘Disco Connect’ slinks in on a high humming noise – gently textured, insistent but not unpleasant – and frontman Jai Pyne croons around the sharp corners of the wistful verse. “Disconnect the phone / Pretend we’re not at home / Shut down your machines / Leave me the fuck alone…” he begs, the “fuck” spiralling up into his prickly falsetto. The sweeping, reverberating burst of sweetly distorted sound that kicks in at 4:16 is an extraordinary noise, and I recommend turning it right up when you get there.

In Loving Memory is packed with surprises: the fleshy little riffs that ripple and glisten, the unexpectedly lithe bass grooves, the refusal to use the same guitar tone twice, and the welcome return of that cheeky woodblock from breakout single ‘We Don’t Walk’. ‘Dozens’ plays on different kinds of distortion – the polluted bass throbs beneath the papery, heavily autotuned backing vocal and thick, dark synth, all fading in and out almost imperceptibly. While it’s thorny and frenetic in parts (‘On Your Hand’, ‘Wrong’), it also sports some radio-friendly tracks – ‘Lung Sum’ is the song that The Temper Trap keep trying to get to before they take that wrong turn at U2 Avenue, and ‘Taller Than You Then’ rides a riff that Josh Homme wouldn’t kick out of bed. But the poppiest moments are still tempered by Pyne’s Isaac Brock-style howl’n’croon – wounded, mealy-mouthed and defiant, and capable of an assured sweetness the Modest Mouse frontman will never manage – and their anything-goes approach to building a genuinely unique sound.

In Loving Memory is a feat of originality and discipline – emotionally intelligent rock with crisp edges and balls by the truckload.

Caitlin Welsh - Brag Magazine

ndie Album Of The Week: The Paper Scissors
In Loving Memory
Sandcastle Music
****

Sydney’s criminally underrated indie-rock heroes sure know how to open an album. ‘Disco Connect’ slinks in on a high humming noise – gently textured, insistent but not unpleasant – and frontman Jai Pyne croons around the sharp corners of the wistful verse. “Disconnect the phone / Pretend we’re not at home / Shut down your machines / Leave me the fuck alone…” he begs, the “fuck” spiralling up into his prickly falsetto. The sweeping, reverberating burst of sweetly distorted sound that kicks in at 4:16 is an extraordinary noise, and I recommend turning it right up when you get there.

In Loving Memory is packed with surprises: the fleshy little riffs that ripple and glisten, the unexpectedly lithe bass grooves, the refusal to use the same guitar tone twice, and the welcome return of that cheeky woodblock from breakout single ‘We Don’t Walk’. ‘Dozens’ plays on different kinds of distortion – the polluted bass throbs beneath the papery, heavily autotuned backing vocal and thick, dark synth, all fading in and out almost imperceptibly. While it’s thorny and frenetic in parts (‘On Your Hand’, ‘Wrong’), it also sports some radio-friendly tracks – ‘Lung Sum’ is the song that The Temper Trap keep trying to get to before they take that wrong turn at U2 Avenue, and ‘Taller Than You Then’ rides a riff that Josh Homme wouldn’t kick out of bed. But the poppiest moments are still tempered by Pyne’s Isaac Brock-style howl’n’croon – wounded, mealy-mouthed and defiant, and capable of an assured sweetness the Modest Mouse frontman will never manage – and their anything-goes approach to building a genuinely unique sound.

In Loving Memory is a feat of originality and discipline – emotionally intelligent rock with crisp edges and balls by the truckload.

Caitlin Welsh - Brag Magazine

Jai Pyne has an appropriate surname. As lead wailer of hotly lipped Sydney group Paper Scissors, his pining style lifts his band's languid, swampy arrangements to heights many bands strive so hard to achieve. Yamanote Line's growling brilliance is getting played on Triple J about as often as the news. We Don't Walk's bass line was conjured last year in a basement in Redfern and still sounds as fresh and underground now. How can one band make jumbled-up anguish so much fun? Paper Scissors exfoliate their souls on every song here and wash that grey right out of your hair. A potent debut. In a word: rock MIKEY CAHILL
- Herald Sun (Melbourne Aus)

The Paper Scissors write intriguing song titles that give way to equally strange arrangements and songs that open unexpectedly, grinding forward with splashes of peculiar percussion. Clear and soulful lyrics invoke sloughs of imagery. The vocals are hugely similar to Tim Buckley, which is awkwardly suited to the electro-indie-rock modernity of harmonies and instrumentation in a few of the tracks, but Less Talk More Paper Scissors would lose its charm with either the modern or the psychedelic. The basslines are mega chunky and guitar riffs infectious on track Tipped Hat. It’s followed by the Bomb Package, which, like all the other songs on this album, leads it to another far-off place with lyrics like I’m drunk and I’m scared and my vision’s impaired / and it would mean that we’re finally free. This is definitely worth checking out, these guys have big talent and big creativity. Check out the colour-your-own pigeon on the album cover.

LEE HUTCHISON
- Rave Magazine (Brisbane, Australia)

THE PAPER SCISSORS - Single Of The Week
Howl

****

Self-produced and mixed by drummer Ivan Lisyack, this song sounds and feels like a step forward for Sydney group The Paper Scissors. Whereas previous efforts have either been direct and effective or willfully eclectic and fractured, this song finds an even balance of both. Drawing on soul, funk, and indie pop, the band still sounds like Talking Heads. The production is without gimmick and serves to highlight their strengths - Lisyack's relentless groove, bassist Xavier Naughton's elastic playing, and singer/songwriter Jai Pyne's intricate approach to percussion-heavy arrangements and melodic, staccato rhythm guitar work. Also noteworthy is Pyne's more restrained, less gimmicky vocal delivery. With melody and groove in hand, Paper Scissors come into focus here. - Dharma Media

Yamanote Line, a sparkling pop gem with yelled backing vocals, witty lyrics and a guitar solo that sounds like it might have been an Eagles out-take, is the best song ever written. Truly. "We make music that borrows from traditions of songwriting as a foundation rather than genre or fashion," says singer and guitarist Jai Pyne. "Influences come from hip-hop to country." FBi's Zilber says the four-piece are delivering on the promise of their debut demo, We Don't Walk, with their new debut album, Less Talk More Paper Scissors. "They always manage to turn out a great live show as well," Zilber says. "The year has been a good one," Pyne says. "The BBC has picked up one of our songs and our album just came out in the UK, and we are playing Falls Festival and Southbound [in WA]. And we played at a kindie a few months back, that was a definite highlight, getting four-year-olds dancing to our music." - Sydney Morning Herald