Paper Bird Crew

The Paper Bird Crew, weaving their sounds into songs not bound by any rules or limitations, raised on the European and Asian alternative indie-music, have roamed around Central Asia and Eastern Europe for many years before coming to Canada. The crystalline, childlike female vocal in contrast with the dissonant rough guitar sound creates the peculiar mystical aura of their songs.

The songwriting partnership of Aleksandr Nikolaev and Kamilla Nikolaev provides a perfectly harmonious diversity of the band’s repertoire. Together with Gene Azimov (bass) and Nick Deraiche (drums) they form the complete and unique sound of Paper Bird Crew.

Kamilla and Alex started in Uzbekistan, Central Asia (where they are originally from) in 1998 as a small punk-rock band. Within several years they have played a lot of shows and took part in local festivals. They have made several home-studio recordings and plenty of attempts to promote them with minor success. In 2003, eager to grow in stature, the band moved to Moscow, Russia. Influenced by new musical movements and styles, they gradually developed a different sound and concept for their music. The composition of the band was constantly changing as well, with the exception of Alex and Kamilla. The band was pretty successful on the Russian independent music stage: a lot of shows played, CDs sold… In 2006 Alex and Kamilla moved to Canada. Here they started Paper Bird Crew, their new project, with the purpose of creating music that’s contemplative and expressionistic rather than entertaining.

They are going all the way. Their music has more to it than just an unconventional sound. It’s about the oddities of the human soul, our hopes and fears, the world that’s hidden in our subconsciousness.