Reviews

First off, I'm a sucker for colored vinyl. The blue and orange smattering on the first 500 copies of the debut 7" from Houston, TX's Papermoons may not have any bearing on the songs within, but it does draw a noticeable parallel to the beauty of the record.

Papermoons play a nice blend of indie/folk that may sound a bit cliché in writing, but is undeniably catchy when you actually take the time to listen to it. The first and last songs on the 7" are the standouts here. Album opener, "Honesty," is one of those songs that you're going to be putting on mixtapes all year long. It seems like Matt Clark and Daniel Hawkins are channeling a lot of influence from a wide range of people in this song. There's a little of The Microphones, The One AM Radio, a smidge of Built to Spill, and even a bit of Broken Social Scene in the vocals. However, the song manages not to come off as a rip off, but as something new and beautiful crafted from a various array of sources. The last song on the album, "Bad Note," has one of those great choruses that you'll find yourself humming and singing softly to yourself when you think no one else is listening,; "I think we think too much about everything / I think we think too much about life / Why can't we just live? / Why can't we just love?" Maybe a little sappy, but it's the kind of sentiment you'd expect in these type of front porch folk songs.

I don't think we could've asked for a better debut from Papermoons. The only problem now is making sure that the full length that they're writing is either as good as this 7" or better. A tough thing to do, but if the debut is any indication, Papermoons are more than up to the challenge. You can expect some great things from Matt Clark and Daniel Hawkins as I'm sure you'll be hearing their names a lot in the coming months.