- ARTIST: Paper Beat Scissors
- TITLE: Parallel Line
- CAT#: FMG082
- FORMAT: Vinyl, CD, Digital
- RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2019
A delicately expansive collection, the new album from Paper Beat Scissors reaches to far-off wonderment and far-in feelings with ease. Suffused with existential pondering, Parallel Line explores all the mess and complexity inherent to merely being alive, albeit with a quiet clarity, a wide-eyed vulnerability. On this third studio full-length, each track is permeated by graceful chamber orchestration, the mood hung tenderly on Tim Crabtree’s arresting vocal work.
A parallel line can only be defined, can only exist, in relation to something else. This is the subtle singularity that the album delves into: how do we qualify ourselves by others’ presence/absence? How is our sense of self strung within a multitude of people, places, experiences, all gently bent and wandering? Both the content of and processes behind Parallel Line explore these open relations.
“a masterful orchestral folk soundtrack to light the fire in the coming cold months; this is the kind of music to keep you warm on a cold night, or keep you company when there’s no one else around..” – Atwood Magazine
“serene” – NPR
“cheeky and buoyant” – CBC Music
“Crabtree, a singer whose songs are always deeply infused with emotion, connects with his listener on such a level that he freezes time” – Folk Radio UK
“lush chamber orchestration” – Various Small Flames
“vulnerable and earnest without slipping into sappiness” (8/10) –Exclaim!
“big, lush, orchestral sound” – echoes and dust