There is that part in the film Up In The Air, where Clooney is talking to Kenny Powers and trying to convince him to go through with his wedding. The speech centers around the fact that all our best memories come from times shared with other people, that “everyone needs a co-pilot.” Some people, like Clooney’s character, take their whole lives to figure out the fact that people need other people. Marriage, for one, may seem like a social construct, but there are basic human neccesities that get fulfilled through partnership, and working as a team has proven to be effective in many aspects of life.
Artistically, this holds true. As a writer, I know I would be nothing without a talented editor. Musicians who tend to work alone probably don’t create as solitarily as you would imagine. Whether it is a producer or session musicians helping in the recording, or just a trusted friend to bounce ideas off, I’d be hard-pressed to think of any solo artist as a true solo artist.
But, there are degrees. Papercuts has always used a band name to describe the incarnations of people who work with Jason Robert Quever, but until Fading Parade, Quever has operated as much as a lone wolf as possible. He has recorded and produced his own albums, played most of the instruments on them, and written all of the songs. But, in talking with him, it becomes clear that this wasn’t always a decision, but rather, just a product of circumstances. In our interview with him, he noted the following about working in collaboration: “It’s way more fun for me. It’s never been self-imposed, it’s just that I clock in the hours and I’m the one that is going to do that.”
Fading Parade sees Quever working with a band in the studio and working with a producer: Thom Monahan. The results are nothing short of successful. Fading Parade is not only the best album Quever has recorded, but it is one of the better albums of this young year.
The opening, mid-tempo “Do You Really Want To Know” casts the album in strict opposition with earlier Papercuts releases. Sure Quever starts the song out with the sole sound of a picked chord, but a whole band quickly joins in, helping deliver a soaring peak to Quever’s “I don’t mi-yi-yind if it’s all an illusion” lyric. This standout is followed by first single “Do What You Will,” an exercise in restraint and release. The verse dodges and weaves through holes in the sound to unleash in the expansive chorus. But best about this track is the reflective outro, reminding listeners that as comforting as the first two tracks on the record can seem, “home is where you run to.”
Fading Parade is more than a couple of standout songs to lead off the album. The best moments, in fact, come from the deeper album cuts. “I’ll See You Later I Guess” packs a vicious punch of nostalgic sadness, when its titular line whacks the listener with the harsh reality of loss and the moments that only gain significance through passing of time. This same feeling accompanies “Marie Says You’ve Changed,” another statement title that doubles as a line that could have been said to any of us, but the vagueness and simultaneous specificity of using a particular name (something Quever does often) gives across an intended weight. Clearly the stakes are higher than the flippant remarks that make up the lyrics. As Quever says, “there is a war worth fighting for.”
The album doesn’t end with a bang, but more closely resembles its title: Fading Parade. Closers “Winter Daze” and “Charades” are beautiful in every sense of the word, but not just for the sounds. There is this sense that our memories fade but that our feelings don’t. Every pain and joy and love of his life clearly inform the music of Jason Robert Quever. He has made it his mission to try to share these feelings through song, and though his mastery of this craft has been hinted at before (check out earlier songs “Dear Employee,” “Future Primitive” and “Unavailable”), he has finally found the key to getting the fullness of his vision across: help. Yes, by trusting others, and by letting go, he has achieved his first great album.
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