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SXSW review: Papercuts
If anything, San Francisco-based band Papercuts comes with good references. The band, led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Jason Quever, just released an album, “Fading Parade,” on Sub Pop. It’s their first on the label, but their fourth overall. They’ve toured with a host of highly regarded groups, including Grizzly Bear and Beach House. The super-mellow indie rockers have been praised for their low-key, ethereal style, drawing comparison to the Byrds or Belle and Sebastian. Live at the Sub Pop showcase Friday night, they didn’t live up to their reputation, but it wasn’t entirely their fault.
In a week of 40-minute sets, unfamiliar venues and bad sound checks, SX-sound and equipment problems are common. Can we really expect every band to sound great when half of them are still gasping for air after dragging their gear from one Red River club to the next with minutes to spare? And so it went with Papercuts, with the sound on the Red 7 Patio plaguing the band for the entire set.
At a couple points members of the band covered their ears and winced from the amount of feedback on stage. Quever was defintiely very restrained, too, which made it very tough to hear a lot of the lyrics. Many of the tunes felt very different then their produced/recorded counterparts. Not that studio recordings and live renditions should sound the same, but they came across as more new wave or emo than Byrds-style country rock to which they’ve been compared. They also sounded kind of flat, but again, that was probably at least partially due to technical issues. Thankfully, not everything was off. On a few numbers, including the strong “Future Primitve,” the band sounded much more dynamic, adding some energy behind Quever’s understated vocals and offering a taste of what could be.
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