volcano! - Paperwork (2008)

Some in the RGB circle have had this album longer than others.  I myself have been in possession for about a month.  It's nice when a release can hold your attention for that long, given today's infinite availability of everything ever recorded, being recorded, and about to be recorded.  It's even better when it turns out to be one of those albums that defines a moment in your life and that you'll be able to listen to a long time from now after having been away from it for a while, and have that period come back to you in a ripple of memory.  (This recently happened to me with Bloc Party's Silent Alarm, which I hadn't heard since my days of killing time on the Evanston-Chicago public transportation commute by listening to 2004-era hip indie music.  Now I need to put that CD back in the box it came from so it doesn't become one of those discs that lives with me everywhere and I get super tired of it, like Siamese Dream.)

Lots of pontificating so far in this review and no indication of arriving at a critical evaluation of the music.  That's okay, pointless blathering about Paperwork puts me in pretty good company -- and by "good," I mean "read by more than my 10 pop-culture friends."

While I think Beautiful Seizure had more immediately accessible individual tracks (hey there, "Fire Fire" and "Apple Or A Gun"!), it also swung heavily between high and low points. That was probably volcano!'s intent, but given my music listening habits the end result is usually skipping the harder-to-parse tracks to get to the HITS before I have to go do some other stuff.  Paperwork has no shortage of those -- in fact, the band jumps from hook to memorable hook as much as a pop-noise-dance band prone to sudden tempo and mood swings possibly could.  And, if you're of the right mindset, those jarring moments become their own hooks too.

Takeaway from this review is...I haven't found an album this enjoyable to listen to straight-through in at least a couple of years.  Quite the commendable accomplishment.

I eagerly await the lyrics that are rumored to be going up on their new website, but bonus points to whoever can tell me what "Slow Jam" is about before they do, besides Chris who I demanded the secret from, rather than do my own critical listening.  Video below.  Does With really say "Where'd you get those shades, Robocop?" in the context of a patronizing Western attitude toward globalization, or is that just wishful thinking?

volcano! doing some music stuff at the Hideout last month. this font is big.