Album Review: Song For Ophelia by Paper Rifles

One of my best finds this year (and there have been a few) is Edinburgh's Paper Rifles. He blew me away earlier this year with his EP Politics. It is an EP full of passionate and honest acoustic punk sing-a-longs. Last month he released a new single on Struck Dum Records called Songs For Ophelia. 

The opening song, Ophelia, reminded me straight away of what I loved so much about Politics; Jon's amazing voice. It just makes me want to care about the songs without even knowing what they are about. Ophelia is a really sad song about being at the end of your life and wanting to be finished. The content is really dark and depressing but the tone of the song somehow feels uplifting and like a celebration. Turn The Lights Down feels like classic Paper Rifles. It's a song about being in a bad relationship but things then feeling better when your favourite song comes on the radio. Jon's vocal delivery is pure story teller mode, taking you on a journey that makes you feel like you know the characters in the song before moving into a big chorus that will get any live crowd singing. The EP concludes with a track titled Lower. It feels like there is a lot more urgency on this song with the acoustic guitar strings being strummed much harder than on the previous songs. The song builds and builds towards the end of the song where Jon's voice is at its passionate best. It makes we want to sing along with him. Excellent stuff from an extremely talented man. He's playing Book Yer Anne Fest in Dundee this November and I am incredibly excited to see him perform live. Everyone should go and buy all his releases and see him as soon as you can.

Buy and Stream Songs For Ophelia here: https://paper-rifles.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-ophelia 

Like Paper Rifles here: https://www.facebook.com/PaperRifles