Paper Not Plastic—a common grocery store phrase and quirky moniker for a local band which has just released its debut album, Road to Lethologica. Recently the five members spent a few sessions recording in MTSU Studios to produce a six-song compilation that combines the sweet and innocent with the slightly bizarre.
Everyone remembers Modest Mouse’s 1997 sophomore album The Lonesome Crowded West, right? Lethologica opens with a bang with “Human Nature,” a sunny melody whose danceable, percussive rhythm and simple, playful guitar parts bear a strong resemblance to Crowded West as well as The Killers’ earlier endeavors. “Unfixable” contrasts with an angry riff coupled with popping bass. Upbeat melodies persist throughout, even when the pace slows, as in the lazy jam “Construction Failure.” It meanders for five minutes with a steady drum snap amidst frontman Jessey Clark’s boyish vocals proclaiming, “I’m a wrecking ball/can’t keep me together/don’t push me too hard/or you’ll break the concrete keeping us together.” Lethologica demonstrates maturity lyrically; even if the similes and metaphors sometimes border on smug, the band is refreshingly capable of exploring subjects other than relationships.
In “The Café Song,” cello and acoustic guitar are introduced to the mix in a proclamation-of-love-outside-the-window sort of ode, ending the album on a softer note that still manages not to divert drastically from the other five tracks. Paper Not Plastic knows how to line up its tracks. The band has done so with precision, in a manner that flows, and the production is polished. As opposed to the first-come-gigs, then-come-albums approach, the band has been relatively scarce in area venues, only recently beginning to book more gigs around Murfreesboro. But judging from the ever-present dancing crowd up front, it can be said that Paper Not Plastic puts on a solid performance at local house shows. There is nothing threatening or dangerous about the sound; it’s all familiar. But Paper Not Plastic’s appeal is not meant to be an avant-garde or exotic one. Rather, the charisma comes from a whimsical and optimistic energy in the band’s live shows that transcends the recording.
