Album Review: And Then Came The Tourists by Paper Rifles

Anyone who has read this blog or spoken to me will know that when it comes to Paper Rifles I am a massive fanboy. I was already a big fan of his music after Avon introduced me to it last year and after I had the pleasure of meeting him at Book Yer Ane Fest last year I also became a big fan of the man. This March he releases a new EP titled And Then Came The Tourists on Struck Dum Records. I'll try and review it objectively and not gush too much about the man. I'll try…

The opening track is named Faith Healer. It's Paper Rifles attempt at a love song, which ended up as a love song to the welfare state and its creation after 1945. The song starts slowly before Paper Rifles’ passionate vocals really come to life. The track is played at a good, fast-paced tempo and gives out a huge amount of energy. The chorus is nice and catchy and will definitely get a room full of people singing along. The lyrics are superb as well - "I Won't Need To Put My Faith In Prayer, If I Fall Down I Know That You'll Be There". The title of the second track, Am Ende Kommen Touristen, is German for And Then Came The Tourists. This song is about a German concentration camp that has become somewhat of a tourist attraction over the years and how strange that seems. Paper Rifles’ passion for the subject is clear as soon as the track begins with some big and powerful vocals. The song again has a good, fast-paced tempo, which is a feature of many of Paper Rifles’ songs - he doesn't hang around and there is a fantastic less-is-more element to his music. The third song is called Books Our Father Handed Down and it begins with some mesmerising guitar work before switching to a slightly more aggressive style. Paper Rifles puts everything he has into the song and it is evident that every word sung and every chord strummed is really meant. And Then Came The Tourists is concluded with the song Postscripts. On this track the brilliance of Paper Rifles’ voice really comes to the forefront. Switching between a more melodic and sincere style and a big, loud, belt-it-out style. I really loved the opening lyrics of the song - "I'm Not A Writer, An Author, But I Believe In Words More Than They Can Let Me Say, Faith Comes To Anyone Who Closes Their Eyes, But The Truth Knows That There's A Price To Pay". 

I admitted at the start of the review that I'm a big fanboy of Paper Rifles but I honestly loved everything about this EP. All four songs are brilliantly written pieces of acoustic/singer-songwriter/punk music. I mentioned in the review about the less-is-more approach to the music and that's a big part of the charm of the EP. I really liked the rawness in the production of the EP; it really adds to the passion of the songs and make them feel more real. If I were you I'd go and pre-order this EP right now, it's fantastic and you'll be supporting a brilliantly talented and lovely man. Also, if you buy the EP you get ten (TEN!!!!) bonus tracks featuring some radio recordings, some live tracks and some demos. Brilliant!

Pre-order And Then Came The Tourists here: https://paper-rifles.bandcamp.com/album/and-then-came-the-tourists-ep 

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