Yellow Paper Planes – Feather’s Touch
Yellow Paper Planes – Feather’s Touch – EP Review
This is all about texture…this is about precision in following the vision and bringin’ it to fruition…you know what I’m saying? Listening to Yellow Paper Planes and the new Feather’s Touch EP…jesus…I don’t even know how to describe just how much I’m loving what I’m hearing from these guys right now. As the opening tune of “Knock Once” kicked into gear…the skill was immediately evident…though I’ll admit they had me worried for the entire duration of the first sixteen seconds – you gotta admit, from there it could have gone either way…
But then what I’d notice next was the incredible texture on the recording of the vocals, which drop into the track just before a minute in; whatever mic or filter is being used works a subtle magic into the mix that really adds a ton of flavour into the sound as “Knock Once” continues to build. The music swells into a large expanded, full & rich sound with all four players perfectly complimenting each other in a unique opening tune that already offers something new to the ears.
Dramatic-folk-rock…is that a genre yet? If not, give it to Yellow Paper Planes to own. And if “Knock Once” doesn’t convince you there’s something genius at work, “Double Life” will have a great shot at doing just that. As a full-song, “Double Life” nearly sounds like two songs threaded carefully together, but done in such a way that you can still feel those seams; I really think that each individual part of this tune is borderline-brilliant…but for some reason it does feel a little less natural and definitely-chopped into parts in comparison to the way the Yellow Paper Planes transition smoothly throughout the other songs on Feather’s Touch.
Massive credit to the overall song-writing and the incredible guitar work on “Good Lovers” in the middle of this EP. That’s RIGHT – I said MIDDLE! If you’re thinking we’re 75% of the way through you need to do yourself a favour and make sure to download the EP…you’ll get yourself a whole other tune and extend the life of this EP by 20% more awesomeness! I think my math is correct on that…I’m really not sure – I’m a music guy that can only count to four.
“Good Lovers” is a genuinely beautiful tune. They kind of remind me of bands like Athlete, or perhaps a little like Black Lab throughout their EP so far, but this song in particular is just pure audio-gold; if they’re not going with this as the lead-single they’re crazy-nuts. The guitar comes through so emotionally as the vocals drop away as this subtle & sweet charmer makes for one of the most genuinely authentic, beautiful moments I’ve heard in music this year – I love this tune. It’s moments like this that have dynamics between the music & vocals that resonate so strongly with your emotions and really make you FEEL the song that make tracks like this the ones you want to see LIVE. Genius ending to this song; stripped of all the power & energy that have risen to the full-potential, “Good Lovers” ends gently & tenderly…this is an extremely strong tune and stunning piece of writing.
“Ghost” becomes increasingly wild as it plays…almost like a cross between Cracker and Pavement; it feels loose, jammed…and maybe like The Dandy Warhols a bit through the fuzzed-up guitars/bass and rhythmic pull of the chorus. “Ghost” becomes a lively-grind that is increasingly captivating to the ears. Again – do NOT short yourself on the full-EP, go get that download because the way they carry on “Ghost” into the brief “Annex” to follow is as seamless as it gets – the first time around I literally looked up to see if this was a long, Smashing-Pumpkins-inspired-style space-rock ending to “Ghost” – it’s that smooth as it flows. “Ghost,” coupled with “Annex” is the groove that keeps on giving, and personally, I wouldn’t have it end any other way – it makes for a completely captivating, stunning and flawless ending I thought absolutely captures some of the true magic in this combination of talented players. They kept me guessing at every turn throughout Feather’s Touch – but more importantly, they kept IMPRESSING me at every twist on their melodies and their creative writing. It all matches the energy, mood, texture and tone of their vision perfectly – I’d be amazed if these songs didn’t come out exactly as they wanted them to sound all along; I loved it.
Find out more about them through their official page at: http://www.yellowpaperplanes.com/
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