paper and sand

On the Brooklyn rockers’ debut, Paper and Sand live up to their moniker—crafting songs that combine abrasive, aggressive guitars with precise and delicate arrangements. Singer/guitarist Wil Farr leads by example. His unique vocal styling has all the gruff of an indie rocker complimented with all the smoothness of a soul singer. When he lets loose on a chorus, his voice spurts out like a shaken beer keg that’s sprung a leak.

The politically charged opener “Age Of Imperials,” led by Adam Christgau’s thunderous yet elegant drumming, is a two-man ambush of guitars and pedal effects that builds itself up and then tears it down with frenetic breakdowns and Farr’s searing vocals. On “A Million Miles,” Farr, lead guitarist Jonathan Jetter, and bassist Jeff Ratner lay down a thick, choppy groove culminating in a crazed yet composed chorus where Farr sings: “You’re giving me a reason to not give in, you’re making it so easy to just become a stone cold killer.”

The mournful “I Lost My Head” glides on the bittersweet guitars of Farr and Jetter and builds up to a final deafening chorus. “The Cruelest Joke” is such a gem they include an acoustic version as a hidden track. In the epic full-band version, P&S ride Jetter’s lead line through soft verses and mammoth choruses with Farr wailing, “we all long to be inside a lover’s arms, like sailors scanning the sea for wreckage on a distant shore.” This line exemplifies Farr’s struggle, searching for shelter where there are many traps.

These songs are angry yet cathartic, bitter yet catchy, vengeful yet sorrowful. The proverbial wolf hounding Farr in his songs appears to be the people, especially women, who’ve done him wrong. Rather than be haunted by it, Farr uses his guitar and his band as the silver bullet to keep the monsters at bay.

Words by Bill Reese - Skope Entertainment

An open bar in these tough times is very hard to come by, especially in New York City. Yet, when you couple an open bar with a solid band's album release, it becomes a full out party of thirsty 20-somethings and curious ears. New York based Paper and Sand, a band I featured last April in my Rising Artist's section (Click Here To Read The Article!), officially released their sophomore album Thick as Thieves. Last night at the Crash Mansion, the band debuted new songs to a packed audience and left them in awe. Wil Farr, former Fireflies guitarist and now Paper and Sand front man, has emerged from the shadows of his last band in being a backing vocalist and guitarist for an art rock band, now rip roars center stage as the leader of a post grunge act. Farr, displayed what he can do in the lime light and showed this was more than just a side project before the split of the Fireflies, this is his new passion. His playing and singing backed by his band mates just created a audio punch to the crowd with how loud and tight they were playing. The bands new songs sound like a cross between an aggressive Kings of Leon meets The Raconteurs. Good old fashion loud rock and roll. As the band preps to hit the road in support of their latest endeavour, I suggest you check them out. It is a party you do not want to miss! - Salvatore Bono

I know I’m writing this a bit late, but between general internet lameness, seeing O’Death on a boat (by the way, I highly recommend seeing bands play on boats), getting in touch with old friends, apartment hunting, and going an 80’s Prom Night, I’ve been fairly exhausted, and not checking out new bands (which is horrible of me).

However, I can state, with absolute certainty, that you should clear your plans for October 3rd (a Friday), and go to Crash Mansion to see Paper and Sand.

I have to confess one of the jewels of my cd collection would be Wil Farr’s acoudtic demo cd that he gave out for free one night in the Co-Op, at SUNY Purchase… my cd has a bunch of stars (or pentagrams) drawn on it. Having only heard him as the guitarist for The Fire Flies, it was interesting to hear his own music, and what he was capable of.

The first thing you’ll notice when listening to PaS for the first time, if you’ve been paying attention to what I’ve been saying all this time, is that they are vastly different from The Fire Flies. While The Fire Flies have a distinctive pop sound to them, PaS are distinctly rock.

Listening to the lyrics is something that will take you a while to do, as you’ll be drawn into the song by the music alone. After a few listens, though, you’ll hear some amazing stream-of-concious lyrics, and vocals, by Wil Farr, that directly mirror the tone of the song, and are powerful.

PaS has an ep, with information on how to purchase it on their myspace. I highly recommend it: I have all 6 tracks on my iPod. You can sample some of them from their myspace: “A Million Miles,” “The Cruelest Joke, “and “The Age of Imperials,” though my favorite from “Wolf at my Door” is “I Lost my Head.” If you’re only going to buy one track, buy “Age of Imperials”: it’s a cynical, jaded song, and I approve of most things cynical. I’m currently really digging “Calling for Me,” which has not yet been released, save for their myspace.

For interests sake, Paper and Sand also have a myspace that has acoustic demos of their songs. - Gears of Rock