I think Volume III works best when viewed as part of a bigger whole, right alongside Paris Falls' previous efforts, Vol. 1 and Vol. II. Going by the band's choice of titles for the three albums so far, it sure seems like they intended there to be some kind of progression, and even if they didn't, well, the theme definitely fits when Volume III rolls into view.
Looking back at the first disc of the trilogy, Paris Falls seems like an a much angrier, more bitter band, with guitarist/singer Ray Brown snarling and spitting venom as much as singing. The followup, Vol. II, headed tentatively down a somewhat more low-key road, trading bitterness and attitude for thoughtful depression; while I definitely liked it, the album seemed uncertain, unsure of itself and where it was supposed to be headed. With Volume III, though, the band sounds like it's gotten where it was going all along.
The sound here is still very similar to that on II, but with less out-and-out melancholy and more of a forward-facing outlook. Take "Obsolete," for example; the song's fairly straight-up pop-rock, with a nicely jangly, almost Elliott Smith-like melody, and while it's resigned and down, to be sure, there's still a hint of relief that at least something (whatever that something happens to be) is finally settled. There're heavy, heavy nods to Floydian psych-rock here, definitely, as with II, but now it's less the slit-your-wrists-and-bleed variety and more the it-all-ends-anyway-so-why-worry variety.
That comfortable feeling allows Paris Falls to both stretch out some, as on the drifting, woozy, seven-and-a-half-minute "Delay," which is all shaky/shimmery guitars and David Gilmour vocals, and to head for sunnier territory, like they do on "Goodmorning," which is louder and a lot more Beatlesque than most of what the band's been doing lately. It's also the best moment on Volume III, its quasi-psychedelic strummed guitars and roaring vocal melody reaching for the skies in a way Paris Falls rarely seems to since Vol. 1.
Of course, part of the reason Volume III shoves up so tightly against 1 and II is because of the band's all-encompassing love of that warm, '70s-sounding analog vibe. The band declares their allegiance in the very first bit of crackly, staticky record noise on the album ("Intro"), and even when things get strange, Volume III sounds like it was recorded love, straight to tape at some dingy dive on the wrong side of town.
To their credit, Paris Falls still steer clear of the whole revivalist thing. Regardless of the fact that Volume IIIdoes point backwards to a bunch of the standard "classic rock" benchmarks, the band doesn't play like followers, not by a long shot; they play like they've absorbed all the old stuff and are making something new out of it, not just within its boundaries. Better still, the music here sounds a lot more deliberate and interesting than the music made by a lot of similar bands.
So much of this sort of thing seems faddish, throwaway music that you'll like the first time and then file away, but Paris Falls write songs that are smart and heartfelt and pained and that definitely don't fade away after just one listen.
Jeremy Hart 6/20/09
posted by Ramon Medina - LP4 @ 12:01 AM
Paris Falls, may have gotten a late start at Sig's Lagoon and had to leave their patented light show in the van but none of that mattered once they hit the first notes of Shelter from the newest album. Damn they kicked it with some emotion and the room sounded great - intimate and with some unexpectedly great acoustics. You'd think that a long rectangular room like that would sound like crap but the high ceilings probably made up for any rectangle issues because Michael Deleon's drums sounded massive - even when compared to the albums. Mind you, the albums sound great but Friday it was like hearing the albums with a bigger and fatter sound. You start with a great room mix then throw-in some solid tunes and the rest is gravy. The audience's enthusiasm on Friday night was surely a testament to that. For the uninitiated, Paris Falls are a band whose harmonies, guitars, and that crazy organ/electric piano sound evoke the more rough and tumble side of late Let It Be Beatles but that description is much too simplistic. After all, the important thing isn't the point of reference but where they take it and Paris Falls shouldn't be accused of mere mimicry. Like, Gold Sounds, Paris Falls seems to have gone back and looked at some classic rock, torn it apart, and rebuilt it to make their own statement. Go and listen to Shelter off the new album or the exceptional pop gem Lucky from their last album and see if you don't pick a moon dog and radiate everything you are.
On their latest effort, husband and wife team Raymond and Jennifer Brown (Meowcifer) concoct a mixture of Seventies psychedelia and low-key late Eighties underground rock and toss in another very healthy dose of The Beatles. With subtle harmonies, melodic drones, and simple chords intact, Paris Falls tout their classic rock influences proudly–you'll hear hints of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, among others–but they thankfully don't completely rely on the tried and true. Instead, they take what they've learned and create calm and warm songs that seem to flow seamlessly into each other.
"Lonely Goodbye" and "Wish You Well" build on the solid pop of last year's excellent Vol. I, but again, Paris Falls don't tie themselves to any static sound. The last quarter of "Shelter" and the fuzzed-out, atmospheric standout "Untitled" rival many instrumental post-rock bands while "Repeater" crushes most better-known modern psych-rock bands. It's this range, coupled with the band's ability to cross genres while maintaining the album's flow, that makes Vol. II one of this year's finest and most compelling releases. –David A. Cobb
We first got the gams for Paris Falls back last February when we caught wind of their stellar track "Shelter". Not shortly thereafter, we finally got our hands on their freshly minted debut full length Vol. I, only to discover that the song wasn't even on it. Turns out, the band was on such a roll when they put the wraps on their first record, that they never stopped writing and recording, and had Vol. II almost completely in the bag by the time its predecessor had gotten the mastering and packaging treatment. It's important, therefore, to see Vol. II not as a sequel, but as a continuation of something that you'd only seen the fist part of (think Lord of the Rings rather than The Matrix if you require a Hugo Weaving example). And yet, the songwriting, the engineering and the performances on Vol. II shows that the Paris Falls was already evolving, improving on their writing, their pop-craft and their engineering.
It plays well into our schlocky writing style, then, that the album opener is titled "Progress" and is a departure from form, simply Ray Brown's heart spelunking vocals over a chunky guitar. "Shelter", whose Rhodes piano smashes, jagged guitar and reversed Starr drums outro, is still on our down-about-it go too list and sets the tone for the record - expect jubilation, veneration and a lingering kiss of gray morning regret. Vol. II features a greater diversity of textures than its predecessor, while still sticking to essentially the same instrument pallet. A favorite example of how this plays out is the initially waltzy "Satellite", with its Bernard Herrmann-esque violin stabs and lonely piano giving way to sunspot cool electric piano and tambourine and eventually succumbing to full on prog rock guitar importations. The album closes with "White Rose," a closer that effortlessly puts the cap on both volumes of the band's output to date, fading out in the end while the music continues on strong. If there was ever a hint that you were in the midst of a trilogy, this would be it.
But given that we haven't yet heard any tracks off this imaginary Vol. III, perhaps the band is taking a pause and stepping into a new narrative, a new branch of aural elixirs to itch that evolving pop ailment that growing on, marriage and parenthood can bring (note - NOT adult contemporary music). Were this the case, we'd be stoked, but we can't even say for a minute we'd be disappointed if their next record was a return of the king.
Recommended.
Right now, Paris Falls is one of the most promising rock acts in Houston, with a sound equal parts fun and good. That sounds pretty elementary, but it's nice to catch a breath of fresh pop air in this age of experimentalism. Led by husband and wife Raymond and Jennifer Brown, the local foursome makes Beatle-friendly rock creative enough to be interesting, catchy enough to be enjoyable. "Walk Away" swings back and forth between catchy breakdowns and even catchier choruses, opening with a bouncing Rhodes rhythm (bonus points) as Raymond Brown's scratchy vocals slide over steady, toe-tappin' drums. Opening track "Lucky" is a little lazier, as Raymond Brown croons and Jennifer adds sugar-kissed harmonies. "Shallow" is a jammy tune that's more Zeppelin than Beatles. Both Browns' mastery of the Rhodes (ha), whether featured or whispered, is Vol. 1's greatest attribute. Paris Falls has already impressed many on the local scene, and demos featuring most of these tracks were given away for free at shows for a while. No worries, though: The band is slated to release Vol. II later this summer. Printed August 9th 2007
Dusty Rhodes
Lonely Goodbye – Paris Falls Lonely Goodbye (single)
It says something when a local band goes to the trouble of self-releasing a two-song single when they've just dropped one pretty aces full length and have a second all wrapped up and in shop-around mode. It's a special song to them, to be sure - one they had to get out there in the intra-release interim for whatever reason (if we were a thoughtful site, it might have occurred to us to ask them before this moment what that reason might be). It's a tender and warm lullaby; a blanket of leaves in a rural yard beyond the times. It's why more musicians should get married and till death do they record.
Category: Blogging
Paris Falls are a Houston-based husband-and-wife team who have self-released two CD volumes of their own compositions (available for cheap at their myspace page). They show remarkable range, from catchy pop ("Walk Away") to edgier jam-rock ("Shallow"), and much in between. Even the "Untitled" instrumental from Volume 2 is good. Rock instrumentals always run a risk of being boring or sounding like talk-over beds, but this one hits the right balance between mellow-mood-maker and independent composition. Almost
all of it has a classic-rock feel, and shows great potential for growth. Check 'em out.
In general, I've tried to make a habit of keeping a bit of critical distance from bands that make their living by digging up the musical past. Sure, I enjoy the hell out of bands like The Redwalls or The Darkness in part because of the fact that they mine styles that evoke a certain era, or a certain memory, or what-have-you, but at the same time, I have to force myself to back it off a bit and remember that it's almost a "fake" kind of appeal for just that reason.
Bands like Paris Falls, though, make me want to throw said habit to the winds and fall head-over-heels in love. At their core, they're basically, well, a classic rock band. Crunchy, loud (but not too loud) guitars, an organ sound the band nearly swiped from Question Mark & the Mysterians, that raw, rock-bellower voice of Raymond Brown's that carries hints of Eric Burdon, Phil Lynott, and even Roger Daltrey, those solid-yet-all-over-the-place drums (courtesy of Mike Deleon, ex-about a billion Houston bands), and even that "warm," analog-like sound -- the whole thing is bluesy, shuddering rock that sounds like it slipped off of one of those Nuggets comps '60s gems. I swear to God, if you slapped these guys up on some classic rock station next to The Who, Steppenwolf, or Pink Floyd, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference.
The latter band, in fact, is all over the place on Paris Falls' Vol. II, from the Floyd-meets-Aerosmith (circa "Dream On," mind you, no later) track "Repeater" on through to the trippy, soaring "White Rose." There's a purple-tinged neo-psychedelic rock influence splattered throughout, the music shambling along in a haze every once in a while before it crashes back into lucidity. I keep finding myself thinking of "Wish You Were Here," in part because several of the tracks are downright sleepy, albeit in a good way. Then there's the Beatlesque "Satellite," which incorporates some nice strings and complex arrangements while still staying relatively low-key.
"Shelter," on the other hand, starts off ferocious and angry but ends up stumbling to an end like a drunk getting belligerent and loud right before falling hard into bed. That track, though, is probably the most like the band's previous release, Vol. 1, that you're likely to find here. Most of the rest of the album feels bleak and melancholy, desperate and sad; it's nowhere near as straight-ahead "rock" as the band's first album, and there's only a hint of the band's bitter swagger left over from that album. With this outing, they've headed in more of an introspective, vulnerable, heart-on-the-sleeve direction. And frankly, it's beautiful, and heartbreaking, and awesome -- all of that and a heck of a lot more.
The thing about picking up elements of musical styles that are firmly rooted in days of yore is that you've got to be doing it for the right reasons. If you're up there on a stage windmilling like Pete Townsend because you think it'll make you look cool, then no, fuck you, it never will. If, on the other hand, you genuinely love a particular sound and want to use that sound to express your own thoughts, emotions, and ideas, well...you just might be golden.
[Paris Falls is playing their CD release party 2/28/08 at Boondocks, with DJ Jason Puffer.](Jeremy Hart // 02/28/08)
Best Mom and Pop Band (2007)
Paris Falls is the brainchild of Jennifer and Raymond Brown. When the two are not perfecting their musical offspring, they're raising their biological one. The pair creates some of the best rock around and recorded most of their first album, Paris Falls Vol. I, after the birth of their son. Pending a good babysitter, you can see them and their backing band around town at least once a month playing their Rhodes-organ infused, Beatle-esque ditties. Time will only tell if Junior will pick up a guitar and help out mom and pop with killer kid solos. Seriously, that would be the best show ever. Get on it, Browns — we'll be waiting with a Best Local Toddler Rocker award.
