5 out of 5

Label: Kill Rock Stars

Producer: John Congleton

It wasn’t as initially grabbing as ‘Hide the Kitchen Knives’ or ‘God Bless,’ leaving that thick beat hanging for a little while whilst letting the narrative spin up via a sample and some keys.  On that first day with the album, I sat in my office at Tower Records and cleaned up paperwork, giving myself an excuse to keep the disc playing.  I was in love with ‘God Bless,’ with its themes, with John’s production, with the compositions, and yeah, ‘Now’ had a lot to live up to.  But I’d gotten the rest of The Paper Chase catalogue by that point and had confidence in the group / Congleton, so I was intent on letting the disc sink in.

It was certainly different.  The production was a bit less staccato, more lush arrangements, with interestingly nigh-poppy songs like ‘You Will Never Take Me Alive’ and even less separation between song and sample, letting elements frequently repeat (as on ‘Cntrl-Alt-Delete-u’) and creating a very clear story about… well… maybe not clear, but themes of plague and ghosts and the hollowness of life were always present, interestingly more accessible than the overt anger of previous albums.

Now, I’ve force fed myself several albums, so I know it’s not really a guarantee of them sticking.  Thus I take it as a good sign when after the first spin I’m already tapping my foot at expected points, or when it’s the first thing I choose to put on (choose to) a few hours later.  Yes, ‘Now You Are One of Us’ provided those signs.  Yes, it’s now my favorite Paper Chase album, the one I don’t need to take breaks from, and the most realized version of the experience I think Congleton had been trying to create since shrieking about apple pie on ‘Young Bodies.’  The album that would follow was a little bit too polished, but there’s still a sense of unpredictability and danger to ‘Now You Are One Of Us.’  It’s creepy.  The image of living homes that consume their owners (yes, we are a zombie nation) and constant references to subservience create a more ickily open and defaming picture of humanity than the somewhat more relationship-focused stories previously, and by reigning in his yelp for select moments – like the sudden breakout of ‘The Most Important Part of Your Body – Congleton finds the perfect balance between theatricality and hardcore that up ’til this point has tended toward overload.  The same teeter-totter is found in the production: a defining element of PC is definitely the booming bass.  John trims it a bit here to let the other elements come into their own.  Again, he has a good sense of when to just let things rip, but something like ‘Wait Until I Get My Hands On You,’ with its orchestral strings and gospel pomp chorus couldn’t have existed in this restrained form on earlier albums, whereas here it gets to act like the excellent musical counterpoint that’s needed.

I love albums that open up upon further listens.  ‘Now You Are One of Us’ had steps in its favor already, since I dug the band, but that can’t dismiss the satisfaction of really digging into something, and realizing that every note has value; every interconnecting snippet feels right and there are no songs I ever feel like skipping on this disc.