PAPER BIRD - thaumatrope
(CD, seayou)
There is a lot of beauty in this world, and you can
make your life much richer and more magical if you learn to open your eyes
and find those little things that sparkle and shine. But beware, there are
also dark and evil places and if you don’t watch out you might fall into a
hole in the wall and end up in a place you never wanted to be. Remember,
behind every old-aged and over-used truism lies a history of stories and
experiences that underline its basic sentiment. Like “a stitch in time
saves nine” or “it’s never too late”. A song might turn from bad to
worse in just a single verse and things might not be as they seem. See,
there is a reason Anna Kohlweis aka Paper Bird titled her third album
“thaumatrope” (you’ll find that on wikipedia yourself) because
perception and reality are linked and both might betray you.
The new album by Paper Bird (the third one) is a good
starting point to discus solipsism, and be it only for the lonely and unique
vision of Anna Kohlweis that she conjured up again in her own homebase in
Vienna, using field recordings as rhythmical basis and piano, guitars and
other instruments to fill the harmonies and all of this to tell dreamlike
stories of failed or failing relationships, of magical experiences in
everyday life and the little things that mean so much but are so shockingly
irrelevant in comparison to the size of the universe. The arrangements are
impeccable and well balanced between the handclapping, euphoric upbeat
rhythms and the melancholic, ephemeral harmonies. Many layers and devices
shape each song into something very special. And Kohlweis takes no barriers
at all in selecting additions. I wonder how long it takes her to chose and
select, chose and select, do away, re-try and listen over and over again
until she, for instance, decides for this Tangerine Dream like synthie pulse
on “a lie a lie (slow down)” to go with the multiple vocals and strummed
guitar chords. It is another truism, but here it works, that every time
you’ll listen to “thaumatrope” you’ll find something new.
All these little things, the organs, the background
vocals, the field recordings, and whatnot are put to good use for the
overall atmosphere of the songs: a bleak, sombre, deep insight that also
sparkles with hope and love. I bet a lot of people will be quick with
comparisons to Frida Hyvönen,
Joanna Newsom, Coco
Rosie or even Tori Amos, but in this respect artistic vision
should be judged on its own. Kohlweis is missing the grandeur of vision or
the self-overconfidence of setting her own ideas on top of the world. (I bet
she wouldn’t put herself in various disguises and postures in the artwork
of her albums as well.) Her songs rather take on the strategy of walking up
to you and then staying in your vicinity until you have gotten accustomed to
them and don’t want to leave them anymore. A simple and wonderful guitar
ballad like “war strategies” would be exploited to MTV-video stardom by
a major label, but it works a lot better as a good friend you can rely on.
Or maybe, judging from the point of view of the
narratives in the song’s lyrics, Kohlweis is more interested in the
appearance of a ghost, that is always there watching, steering fates a
little, but mostly staying out of the everyday life’s tribulations and the
common problems of humankind. An ephemeral position in life, where there are
deep symbolic meanings in everything that regular people can’t see, but
that have a ever so slight but also ever so powerful impact on your fate.
There is that kind of detachment and introvertedness in the music and
arrangements also. But it is a fascinating world to dive in as well.
