Papercuts
Baxter’s Bliss EP
Slumberland Records
After taking a brief hiatus to focus on production with bands like Beach House and Sugar Candy Mountain, Jason Quever has returned as Papercuts to present Baxterβs Bliss. The digital-only EP seems to serve as a small appetizer for the bandβs upcoming full-length, Past Life Regression. The EP is the first weβve heard from Papercuts since the artistβs 2018 album, Parallel Universe Blues.
The fruition of Queverβs talent for arrangement and writing is heard throughout Baxterβs Bliss. The first track on the EP, βA Dull Boy,β sets a melancholy tone for the following four tracks, where Quever somberly reflects on fleeting details of life which bring us joy, such as learning to play the tambourine or seeing a smile sprawl across anotherβs face: βIf ignorance is bliss, then heaven looks like this.β The EPβs title track, βTry Baxterβs Blissβ is aptly representative of the EPβs purpose: distraction and escapism during times of existential dread.
The project is dreamyβ and somewhat ominous, a frothy blend of shoegaze and folk-pop with slightly drooping, gloomy guitar as on βTry Baxterβs Bliss,β sweeping, bright organ tones βWhen Will You Come Homeβ, and foreboding bass and percussion that can be heard on βThe Partisanβ.
ArtistΒ Links
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: PAPERCUTS – BAXTER’S BLISS EP
Jessica Kunkel