Papercuts – You Can Have What You Want Review
Papercuts is Jason Quever’s solo project. He’s released some critically praised material in the past, namely Can’t Go Back. His recently released, You Can Have What You Want which I’ve gotten the opportunity to listen to over a few weeks. I would classify Papercuts as down tempo indie pop – almost quite typical of my listening choices. On You Can Have What You Want he uses pop elements mixed in with his sobering voice to achieve enjoyable music. This style does have it drawbacks, such as tendencies to over indulge can make the album very stale at certain points. Also, there seems to be a limit on how much I can actually like Papercuts. There are some very good tracks on this album, for example: A Dictator’s Lament, Dead Love, Future Primitive and The Wolf are my favourites.
Part of the problem, is that I don’t find the album memorable or leaving an impact. I like it, but I don’t love it. I doubt I’ll say to myself in 4 months, “why don’t I put this Papercuts CD on?” However it’s clear that Quever and Co. are pretty talented and You Can Have What You Want is still an above average disc at the end of the day. I wasn’t familiar with his work beforehand so there really was no real disappointment. Not as intricate or beautiful as say, Beach House though it hardly tries to be anything. It just seems pleased with being satisfactory, and that suits me perfectly fine 
.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
A Dictator’s Lament by Papercuts
Future Primitive by Papercuts
P.S. Do you prefer shorter reviews on Average-Above average albums? I find myself forcing it a bit much if I’m not in love or hating an album.
Tags: album
Decent review, and I pretty much agree with you. I’ve read a lot of hype about this album recently, but myself have found it to be fairly average. There is nothing in the way of variation throughout – the only difference between any of the tracks is that four of them have noticeable hooks. My own “almost” favourites are Dead Love, Future Primitive, You Can Have What You Want and A Peculiar Hallelujah, but even these leave me a little bored before they’re finished.
A particular gripe is that the vocals rarely reach the levels of inspiration that are called for. There are many occasions throughout the album where I can imagine a more adventurous and soaring melody, but it never comes.
I’m fully expecting this album to be this year’s Fleet Foxes – topping numerous album of the year polls, but leaving me fairly unimpressed. And it’s a shame because I quite like Papercuts.