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Album Details

• Artist: The Paperbacks
• Album: An Episode Of Sparrows
• Label: Pshaw
• Year of Release: 2003
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-08-14

Doug McLean and Jaret Mcnabb were left high and dry when the Bonaduces decided to call it a day. They tried out another project called Painted Thin but that didn't turn out to be anything of value. Then they hooked up with the former singer/songwriter of the under-rated Transistor Sound and Lighting Company, Jason Churko as well as the singer/songwriter from the long standing Winnipeg group The Mandarins, Tanya Zubert. That's where The Paperbacks were born and they have enough talent in the band to make it places. An Episode Of Sparrows is their debut album that will make it showcase on the Minneapolis based label Pshaw. Their sound is actually quite an orchestral type pop that never really gets into the rock territory. Instead the band decides to play it safe with fairly mellow pop sounds similar to that of The Weakerthans. In fact The Weakerthans, Jon K Samson is a good friend of the band, even playing their album release. An Episode of Sparrows is an album that is so intelligently written that you want to sit down and read every lyric on the album. They are political but not enough to scare off the people that are just in it for the music. Politics make for great lyric writing especially if the songwriters are well read and know their facts. I predict that The Paperbacks should see welcoming arms in the college music scene and that An Episode of Sparrows will climb the college charts.

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