Paper Route

The Peace Of Wild Things

This review originally ran in AP 291.

It’s easy (and scarily accurate) to write off Paper Route as some sort of Coldplay clone with an ’80s synth fetish. One would think the arena-pop tendencies displayed on 2009’s super-underrated Absence would be toned down in the wake of the band’s departure from Universal Motown and resignation of chiseled-chinned co-frontman Andy Smith. Yet the self-released The Peace Of Wild Things finds the band—now a trio—still throwing in haymaker choruses with vaguely spiritual lyrics that could double as calls to worship in your local megachurch (“Two Hearts,” “Better Life”). The instrumentation is heavy on synth and hip-hop beats (see the Peter Gabriel-esque “Rabbit Holes”), and is typically enjoyable. Still, there’s something missing. Maybe it’s Smith (his tracks on Absence were the band’s best); maybe it’s something more intangible—but The Peace Of Wild Things feels oddly incomplete.

Tree Of Hearts http://paperrouteonline.com

“Two Hearts”