Exclusive video premiere of ‘Lodger’ by Papercuts, taken from the forthcoming album, ‘Past Life Regression’, out April 1st via Slumberland Records/Labelman.

Jason Quever has been releasing timeless guitar-based dream pop as Papercuts since 2004, impervious to trends or micro genres that have come and gone around him. In that regard, his contemporaries are artists like Hiss Golden Messenger, Fruit Bats, Andy Shauf or Kings of Convenience – artists who are more concerned with song craft and perfecting their sound, and less concerned with gimmicks or fitting into a specific scene.

‘Past Life Regression’ is his new album and it’s a journey into the dreamier reaches of psychedelic folk-pop that digs deep into influences as wide-ranging as The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Spiritualized, Echo & The Bunnymen, Leonard Cohen and late 60s pop of various flavors.

Gaze set forward; his view has never been clearer. “It’s been an intuitive journey,” Jason reveals, “the album’s melodic clarity comes from simple evolution and wanting to hear things back that hit more immediately. There might be a bit more confidence and less self-doubt clouding the recording experience. I used to work in a slightly depressive haze that I have moved beyond these days. I have found the way you feel while recording is inescapable when you look back at it, even if you might be blind to it at the time, or believe you’re working around it, your feelings always show through.”

With cuts as deep as his namesake would suggest, ‘Past Life Regression’ was created shortly after Jason’s return to San Francisco’s Bay Area after several years in LA, and revels in the tensions between the pleasures of homecoming, collective miseries of the pandemic, and the current political upheaval. Immersed in memory, the album’s mood is contemplative as old times and past lives resurface; “This record is like revisiting characters and events which have stayed with me from the past. Those relationships and people haunted me for a while. Alongside the insane political and social situation we all find ourselves in, and the profound disappointment I felt about humanity after recent US events, it inevitably was all going to come out.” Take the absurdist ‘I Want My Jacket Back’; at wits end during the US election cycle and inspired by a brief encounter with an acquaintance who espoused contradictory conspiracy theories, the song reflects Jason’s own brief thoughts of leaving the US. “I felt robbed of a sense of security and faith in humanity and was missing a sense of normalcy. It may have been an illusion, but it was a pleasant one,” he says.

Taking solace in his new surroundings, the album was an immersive process, providing newfound focus. A flood of ideas and songs were written in a short period with the confines of lockdown providing ample time for experimentation in sound. “I was really happy and inspired to be back in the Bay Area, in a house with a cool basement studio. Usually, I write a lot at once and make super messy demos quickly, then re-record them to tape and explore what sounds would be inspiring to try out. Warbling tape, blowing out the drums, different instruments and vocal sounds; all that is really fun to do.”

Playing the instruments himself, Jason is joined by partner Amy, who provides harmonies whilst good friend Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards) occasionally lends lyrical co-writing duties and neighbour Will Halsey (Sugar Candy Mountain) guests on drums. Channelling their own spirits, they share the space with kiss offs to past loves (the Bunnymen-tinged ‘Palm Sunday’ and the hooky cello baroque of ‘My Sympathies’), memories of passing flings ( the trippy farfisa-driven 60s sunshine pop of ‘Lodger’), not to mention pals who have passed (‘Comb in your Hair’), teens who communicate with the supernatural (the epic flow of The Twilight Zone inspired ‘The Strange Boys’) and of course those real-life crazed conspiracy theorists.

Crystal clear and waltzing on a west-coast breeze, the results are beguiling. Expert of his craft, akin to his contemporaries Hiss Golden Messenger, Silver Jews, Andy Shauf or Fruit Bats, Jason’s songwriting, arranging, and production is immaculate, capturing attention from and securing work with dream-pop luminaries Dean Wareham and Beach House of late. “I’ve had a good time exploring sounds and atmospheres, and the lyrics all tell a story. The first half of the record is shimmery, and the second half warbly. It is still dream-like, I can’t get away from that, but it is less murky than previously. Mostly, I approached creating this record by trying to please my own ears, with equal doses of joy and melancholy.”

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