Papercuts is an American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

project centered on

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

songwriter/producer Jason Robert Quever.

History

Papercuts is the musical project of California singer-songwriter and producer Jason Robert Quever, and various guest musicians. Quever was born and raised in Humboldt, California, spending a number of his early years in a commune, then moving to the Bay Area at the age of 10. Both his parents died in his teen years. After moving to San Francisco and studying at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

, Quever started Papercuts as a solo project, releasing his first proper album, ''Mockingbird'', in 2004. In 2007 came the critically acclaimed ''Can't Go Back'', followed by 2009's ''You Can Have What You Want'', both on Gnomonsong. 2011's ''Fading Parade'' was released by

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

, which was followed by a period where Quever focused on producing. He currently runs a recording studio in downtown Los Angeles. Quever is also known for producing artist such as

Cass McCombs Cass McCombs (born November 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. Career McCombs has played in numerous bands in the Bay Area during the 1990s before relocating to New York City. He released his debut EP '' Not the Way E.P.'' (2002), d ...

's early work, as well as artists such as Dean Wareham (

Galaxie 500 Galaxie 500 was an American indie rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three studio albums: '' Today'' (1988), '' On Fire'' (1989), and '' This Is Our Music'' (1990). The band membership comprised guitarist and v ...

) and

Beach House Beach House is an American indie music, indie band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore in 2004 by current members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming). Their work is char ...

. A sixth Papercuts album, '' Parallel Universe Blues'' on Oakland's

Slumberland Records Slumberland Records is an American independent record label, formed in 1989 in Washington, D.C., and based in Oakland, California. The label has released recordings by Velocity Girl, Honeybunch, Lilys, Stereolab, Evans The Death, St. Christo ...

, was released on October 19, 2018. Papercuts covered

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician who is a founding member of the rock band the Eagles, for whom he is the drummer and co-lead vocalist, as well as its sole continuous member. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles ...

's "Boys of Summer" for the

American Laundromat Records American Laundromat Records is an independent record label founded in 2004 by Joe Spadaro. ALR specializes in almost annual indie rock compilation albums, which have included tracks by OK Go, The Dresden Dolls, and The Watson Twins. Compilation ...

charity CD ''Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies''. The CD was released worldwide on May 18, 2010. The bands that Papercuts have toured with include

Grizzly Bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

, Beach House,

Camera Obscura A camera obscura (; ) is the natural phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a aperture, small hole into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) ...

, Still Corners and

Vetiver ''Chrysopogon zizanioides'', commonly known as vetiver and khus, is a perennial bunchgrass of the family Poaceae. Vetiver is most closely related to sorghum while sharing many morphological characteristics with other fragrant grasses, such as ...

Personnel

Quever is the only permanent member of Papercuts, early on playing with whoever of his friends were available. Bay area artist/filmmaker David Enos and Matt Popieluch have been the longest-standing collaborators.

Musical style

The Papercuts sound is generally classified as

, with comparisons also being made to

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such ...

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

, and '60s pop. In a 2007 live review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Jon Pareles described the band: "Melding sustained organ chords with slow fingerpicked guitar, the Papercuts’ music merged

Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionist Moe Tuc ...

ballads with touches of

the Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...

, while Jason Quever sang in a high, diffident voice about elusive love."Pareles, Jon (2007)
Three Bands on Trips That Lead to the ’60s
, ''

'', 9 March 2007 A ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' review described Papercuts as "a marching band on

Quaalude Methaqualone is a hypnotic sedative. It was sold under the brand names Quaalude ( ) and Sopor among others, which contained 300 mg of methaqualone, and sold as a combination drug under the brand name Mandrax, which contained 250 mg me ...

s" and "part atmospheric, part dream pop rock, always melodic, and never boring".MacNeil, Jason (2004)
Papercuts ''Mockingbird''
, ''

'', 7 December 2004 A ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown Houston, Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely ...

'' review of ''Can't Go Back'' described the album as having a "warm, sunny sound, recalling northern California circa 1968", going on to describe the band as "a lo-fi version of The Byrds".Ayers, Michael D. (2007)
Papercuts ''Can't Go Back''
, ''

'', 28 February 2007

Discography

Albums

* 2000 - ''Rejoicing Songs'' (cassingleUSA) * 2004 - ''Mockingbird'' (

Antenna Farm An antenna farm, satellite dish farm or dish farm is an area dedicated to television or radio telecommunications transmitting or receiving antenna equipment, such as C band (IEEE), C, Ku band, Ku or Ka band, Ka Band (radio), band satellite dish ...

) * 2007 - ''Can't Go Back'' ( Gnomonsong) * 2009 - ''You Can Have What You Want'' (Gnomonsong) * 2011 - '' Fading Parade'' (

) * 2014 - ''Life Among the Savages'' (Easy Sound Recording Co./ Memphis Industries) * 2018 - '' Parallel Universe Blues'' (Slumberland Records) * 2022 - ''Past Life Regression'' (Slumberland Records)

Singles

* 2009 - "Future Primitive" ( Gnomonsong) * 2009 - "A Dictator's Lament" ( Gnomonsong) * 2009 - "The Machine Will Tell Us So" ( Gnomonsong) * 2011 - "Do What You Will" (

) * 2011 - "Do You Really Wanna" (

)

References

External links

Papercuts
on

BandCamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

{{Authority control Indie pop groups from San Francisco Sub Pop artists Memphis Industries artists Slumberland Records artists