Paper Empire was recorded by Warren Huart who also did the latest album by The Fray. He is also credited with producing/engineering Augustana's sophomore album and American Idol 2009 winner, Kris Allen.
There is something about those 90's alt rock bands. They know how to convey the perfect emotion into their lyrics and songs that make you almost miss feeling sad. As Kurt Cobain once sang, "I miss the comfort in being sad." You know what? I agree and this album gives you some of that sadness brought on by relationships without being "emo."
The album starts off with Kevin Griffin's signature deep, calming vocals with Absolutely Still which was my #1 most listened to song of 2009 (according to my Lastfm.com account). This is a prime example of how a song could be one of the best songs of 2009 but not have the sales numbers to back it up. Absolutely Still is that signature emotional song that you tend to listen to when you found "the one." The song that you listen to when you're together and the song you listen to after you broke up to remember the good feelings of being with "the one". As the lyrics point out, "promise me you'll never leave this room....a million years from now would be too soooooon."
Other songs that bring you back to that 90's emotional feel are Turn Up The Bright Lights, Fit, The Loveless, Hey Love and their current TV spun song Just One Day.
But then you got the opposite, almost surprising, side of Better Than Ezra on their songs Nightclubbing, Hell No! and All In. It's a side of them having fun and going outside of their music playing box. I can almost hear Forever The Sickest Kids doing a cover of Nightclubbing and you would swear it was their own.
Overall, I was really surprised with this album because I wasn't expecting a lot. This band has been around for almost 22 years but has remained current with amazing songwriting. It's hard to expect a creative album from a band that wasn't very creative with their band name. When playing a Battle Of The Bands in 1988, they had to come up with a name for the competition. They asked the promoter what was the name of the band that played before them. They were told it was Ezra. So they decided to call themselves Better Than Ezra. The rest is history.
This album is great for the new Better Than Ezra fan and for the old fan of Deluxe and Friction, Baby. It's fun, emotional and downright good.
Listen to my #1 most played song of 2009 on the LaLa.com player below.
1. Miniature Tigers"The Wolf" - This Phoenix, Arizona, band is about to take the country by storm. With two upcoming tours with fun. and Say Anything/Eisley/Moneen, get ready for this band to hit a new demographic - the scene crowd. They just finished a soldout Ben Fold's tour. Their sound is a cross between early Beck and Guided By Voices. Their record label are my fellow officemates, Modern Art Records.
2. Better Than Ezra"Absolutely Still" - This is one of my favorite bands from the 90's and they have come back with a strong song in Absolutely Still. This is the band that brought you the songs Good, King Of New Orleans and Desperately Wanting. I can't stop listening to this new song. Catch them on their theater tour in Sept/Oct.
3. Paper Route"Carousel" - I've been listening to this song for well over a year but it's the first single off their major label debut Absence. I have a feeling this band will be around for a long time.
4. Kings Of Leon"Use Somebody" - This second single off their platinum album Only By The Night is my favorite. The band that was a worldwide hit for many years is finally a success in their home country. Single #3 is hitting the airwaves now but I'm still rocking this song.
5. Blink 182"Adam's Song" - I have zero clue why I've been playing this song a lot lately. This song caused a lot of controversy in its day. It's a sad song and sometimes you need those songs to bring back some life in you.
.jpg)
