Album Review: The Paper Chase - Someday This Could All Be Yours, Vol. 1
Bill Murray utters the immortal line in What about Bob?, “There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t. My ex-wife loves him.” So true, Bob. So true.
The same could be said of The Paper Chase. There isn’t much middle ground in the matter. Party lines will be drawn between glass-half-full and glass-half-empty proponents. Those that moan about only having a bit more beer left will be the ones championing The Paper Chase’s new album Someday This Could All Be Yours, Vol. 1. Shot through with pain, misery, hopelessness, and nihilism, Someday will be a buzzkill for many. The album chronicles a litany of natural disasters including a forest fire, lightning, a blizzard, and (on the final number) the “natural disaster” of the human condition. Listen to this line from a recent press release: “[Someday] explores the existential crisis inherent within a universe seemingly fated to exterminate its population.” Thanks. I think I’ll slit my wrists now. In a way, Someday is your depressing friend who whines about his problems at parties, gets drunk, and scares the girls away.
The Paper Chase thinks it is more clever than it really is. Back in 2000, at the time of the release of their debut, Young Bodies Heal Quickly, You Know, their sound - a hybrid of industrial and orchestral indie rock similar to Cursive - was new, fresh, and inventive. After five albums and little to no change in sound, The Paper Chase have passed their expiration date and are starting to taste like chunky milk. Even within Someday, there is a uniformity, homogeny in the song structure. Vocals are slightly obscured by distortion. Dissonant guitars play over string arrangements. Drums plod. The Paper Chase probably thinks the sameness adds cohesion to the concept of the album. (And this is a concept album in the most pedantic sense.) In actually, it shows a glaring lack of imagination.
In a way, a concept album needs to defend itself. It offers a story in a broad sense, a way of life, an observation on humanity, and either the statement explains itself and rings true or it exists only as a document of half-empty thoughts. The Paper Chase neither explains its wholly dreadful countenance on Someday nor does it hide its vitriol for anyone who may find meaning in living life whether through religion, family, friends, humanitarianism, etc. Whiney, indeed.
The question now becomes: “Is there a market for this?” In post-2001 terrorist fear-mongering and post-2008 financial difficulties, my guess is very few people will have patience for exercises in gloom and doom like Someday. With so many acts boasting sunny dispositions, thoughtful lyrical argumentation, and also the chops to get it done with panache in the studio, it’s no longer a viable argument to pan these musicians as empty headed and talentless. In corollary to this, little time need be afforded those that sell pessimism as a badge of authenticity while bringing little else to start a conversation.
Where Someday This Could All Be Yours, Vol. 1 scores points is in its audacity. To make two records - volume two set for release in 2010 - concerning natural disasters shows pluck. It needs to be handed to The Paper Chase that it also tries to make a connection between extreme suffering (and eventual death) through nature and a lack of order in the universe; this certainly isn’t an original concept, but the aspiration to explore it is above average and noble. It just never really gets off the ground from that initial “everything sucks” sentiment; however, John Congleton offers interesting wordplay here and there. In the title opener, the speaker laments that he’s “licked every nine volt that’s inside our fire alarm” to hedge against death. It’s a clever and biting indictment of fearful, small picture thinking. On “What Should We Do With Your Body? (The Lightning)”, Congleton starts to make connections between fears of mutilation (it seems) and the havoc lightning wreaks, an interesting idea. It’s hard to follow any thoughts beyond that, however, because obfuscation abounds and the lyrics eventually get away from him.
If nothing else, it’s not fair to bury this record simply because The Paper Chase shot for the stars but failed to exceed its ability. Not everyone can pull off a concept album like Dark Side of the Moon or for that matter The Wall. It may be foolishness to shoot for such heights, but an “E” for effort is worth giving. This album is a toss up of unrealized thoughts and glimpses of thoughtfulness; unoriginality philosophically and original musical arrangement from time to time; and, I believe, honest experimentation amidst the blind leading the blind. If I have been hard on Someday, it is because the album boasts much while delivering far less than promised: admirable but unfulfilling.
Rating: 
Check Out:
“What Should We Do With Your Body? (The Lightning)”
Buy:
Someday This Could All Be Yours, Vol. 1
“admirable but unfulfilling” and you’re saying that’s a bad thing?
I don’t think you get the paper chase.
What happened to this band?
Downhill since 2002……….