5 out of 5

Label: Africantape, Sickroom Records

Produced by: Patrice Guillerme (recorded by)

Every now and then I’ll circle back around to June of 44, thinking now is the time I’ll “get” them – getting over the extrene emo-ness of the vocals, and kind of indirectly predictable post- / math-rock quirk of it all – but, no, that’s yet to happen. The group, to me, just continues to sound like the most indulgent aspects of their scene, all bundled together.

What often inspires me to take these repeat journeys are the many excellent bands influenced by Jo44, such as Papier Tigre, with their repetition-as-intensity kind of song crafting approach, and clean to chaos dynamics. But, y’know, it can also be a case of a group picking up the flag and zooming past the finish line with it, which these two PT tunes do and then some.

With each track built around a core loop – Personal Belongings’ staccato drums; The Difficult Age’s more general loping pace – Papier Tigre take full advantage of everything: lush, rounded production which allows the nasal vocals to have weight, the slinging guitar work to be both sharp and gentle, and especially the percussion ringing richly with a nice range of sounds and intensities. The song constructions lurch from quiet to loud to unpredictable on a dime, but always very controlled and precise. And perhaps most importantly for songs of this nature, which push and pull at verse-chorus-verse norms but still get you to easily bon along to the beat, PT make full beginning, middle and end experiences within only a few minutes – mini, contained epics.

Both sides of the single might as well be A-sides.