Papernut Cambridge - Love the Things Your Lover Loves

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 27 / 4 / 2016

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Review

Papernut Cambridge, which began life as an imaginary band that came to Ian Button in a dream, have now – on their third album of original material, become a genuine, real-life band. Having made two albums by recording at home, and recruiting an assembled cast of collaborators to record their own parts at home, the increasingly solid live line-up that emerged in the wake of the band's acclaimed second record ('There's No Underground') now makes up the 'Nut's studio line up as well. They even have their own theme song. Where previous albums told the story of the imaginary Papernut Cambridge, now Button has penned a song with shout outs to his real-life bandmates. Having been initially reluctant to even play live, its great to see Ian Button embrace, and make the most of, his surprise move into becoming a bandleader. The imaginary band has become real. Button's carefully contained experiments have become reckless free for alls. The disco references have become dancefloor fillers. And, amid all this, Button stays true to his original vision of making collectable artefacts, of the kind the seventies band of his dreams would have put out (this one comes as a double 10” vinyl with a separate cassette of instrumental remixes, and a set of temporary tattoos). We learned on previous Papernut Cambridge albums that Ian Button has an ear for a pop single. Yet, where this record really comes alive though is in the slower, denser songs where the newly solidified band really shines. The dreamy 'Them' features a delightful breakdown where Jack Hayter's pedal steel comes to the fore. 'Mirology' has eerie synths and creepy call-and-response backing vocals, and a saxophone solo that can't help bring David Bowie's last outings to mind. The shamelessly Kinksy 'St Nicolas Vicarage' is encased in eerie popping, bleeping synths before eventually the sax returns. Unpicking the dense web of musical and lyrical references would take many months, and test my deadline to its limit. So, let's just say that there's a hell of a lot going on here – far too much to take in with a single sitting. And yet, in an era when so much music seems to be straining too hard for novelty, 'Love...' pitches it perfectly: playfully experimental but never abandoning its primary purpose of entertaining. Record collectors will love the nik-naks and multi-formats. Pop fans will love the melodies. Prog fans will love the Floyd-esque breakdowns. Indie nerds will love the genre-hopping. Everyone will love the sense of fun. All in all, we have a truly, indisputable essential record. You'll love it.

Track Listing:-

1 Love the Things Your Lover Loves
2 The Lady Who Told a Lie
3 I Promise You
4 Radio
5 Chartreuse
6 Them
7 Mirology
8 St Nicholas Vicarage
9 I'm Stranded
10 Spell It Out
11 Kardashev Fail
12 We Are the Nut

Band Links:-

http://www.chasndave.com/
https://www.facebook.com/chasanddaveof
https://twitter.com/chas_dave

Label Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/GareduNorduk
http://www.garedunordrecords.com/#face
https://twitter.com/GareDuNordUK