I always love checking out other peoples music collections. I find it quite entertaining looking at what other people like and are listening to and it can be a great way to find new music. Recently I was checking out my new friend Avon's (here's a link to her blog) collection on Bandcamp and looked up an act named Paper Rifles. I clicked play and fell in love instantly. Paper Rifles consists of a man named Jon from Edinburgh who plays acoustic punk rock music. Late last year he released a new EP named Politics. Here is my review.
The opening track on the Politics EP is also named Politics.
The strength of Jon's voice is instantly apparent, full of passion and energy.
This is exactly how I love my acoustic punk music. It makes me want to sing
a-long at the top of my voice. This the sort of song that I imagine would
captivate a room full of people at a show. It will get you arm in arm with the
people around you and bring strangers together. It is brilliant. The second
song on the EP is called The Barricades Built. It starts off with some whoa-oh
moments that will instantly grab your attention before we are given a more
restrained performance on this song. A little of the passion is taken out and
replaced with a little more melody. The verses feel like Paper Rifles is
telling us a story before we get to an empowering chorus of "So Stand Up, Bear Your Arms and Bare
Your Chest, Bet Your Bottom Dollar That This Life Is A Test For The Next."
The next song on Politics is called Cemetery Sea and is a song originally
by Jon's former band The Curators. This version of the song starts off with
some fast but simple guitar strumming accompanied by Jon's voice and full
volume, again full of passion. The vocals also take complete control of the
melody of the song at the beginning. This leads into a big finale complete with
backing strings. Another song that will get fists in the air and voices loud.
Track four is named Made To Break and is a more chilled out song. The first
thing about this song that struck me is how accessible the sound is. The punks will
love it, the singer songwriter fans will love it, even your mum will love it.
The final song on Politics is called Four Hours. I love the variety in styles
that Jon shows during the track, starting off and a decent tempo with a bit of
passion coming through in his singing before slowing things down slightly in
the middle of the track before finally ending with a massive finale.
In a scene where acoustic singer songwriter punks are
getting ten a penny Paper Rifles is certainly one of the stand outs. Off of the
top of my head I can't think of someone who sings as well as Jon and keeps all
of the passion and honesty in his music. Paper Rifles to put it simply is awesome!
Thanks Avon.
Like Paper Rifles here: https://www.facebook.com/PaperRifles
By his brilliant music here: https://paper-rifles.bandcamp.com
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