What is going on out on the west coast of Canada? They boast the healthiest population in the country, are the least polluted and have the most consistent weather, yet still so much of the musical population (beginning with Hot Hot Heat) has an obsession with The Cure. Don’t think it’s true? Check out The Paper Cranes’ new album. From the dancing pianos that drive the impossibly upbeat opener “I’ll Love You Until My Veins Explode” that’s only manically dour if you really listen, The Paper Cranes betray a love of “Love Cats”-era Cure that never wavers once for the duration of Halcyon Days. Singer Ryan McCullagh mopes and yelps his way through these ten tracks like Christopher Robin well past nap time and the very poppy structures will thrill anyone that remembers and misses the lightest period in Robert Smith & company’s career. There is a catch though and it is this: at no point does the band do anything other than mine that pseudo-poppy and vaudevillian formula. The delerium of the contrast between sad vibes and happy pop is constant and, as the record progresses, the band begins to sound as if they’re simply playing what amounts to the same song over and over; almost down to using the same chords for each track. The differences between, say, “100 Years War,” “Milk Run” and “Horse Track” are negligible. The band is simply repeating the same song structures and progressions with different lyrics. Eventually, such repetition – with only the most minor and superficial variations gets pretty pedantic and frustrating. Doesn’t it? Thought so.
