Wow, lost somewhere between old Sarah records, old Creation records and old Summershine records lies Finland's Paperfangs. Sounding so authentically early nineties or late eighties the group weave a weary, lazy, beautiful kind of synthpop that would make Alan McGee jump for joy or inspire Stephen Meritt to write fifty new Magnetic Fields songs. Their album AAVVAV is a chilly, strung out indie dance record that's so stunningly perfect I've had to listen to it five times in a row.
Paperfang take a sort of sparse approach to putting their songs together and it seems only after the basics have been laid down that they go back and give each song more depth and Finnish charm. The result is this sort of detached and indifferent kind of synthpop that cares deeply but is just too shy to express it in an external fashion. The stuff is gorgeous, twee, catchy, and perfect for losing yourself in on an indie dance floor somewhere. The songs are like spells being cast by the band and when they hit you they take you over and you feel the emotion and introspection that are running through each song. It's truly magical stuff and I've not heard something this spot on since I was buying all those old Creation/Summershine/Sarah compilations.
AAVVAV is a perfect indie dance record. It's the summation of two decades of music that yearned to be big but never quite got there. Riddled with hits that will never be, Paperfangs have created an incredible record for everyone who dreamed of pop stardom but never got there. Hooky, twee, introspective, and dancey you couldn't ask for anything more from this band and should Magnetic Fields hang up their toys for good, Paperfangs would be a nice replacement...not that we would want that to happen...but it would work.
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