PAWS
announce new self-titled album
out 27th October on Ernest Jenning Record Co.
Share new single & video for “Disenchanted”
On 27th October, Scottish alternative rock band PAWS will release their new self-titled album via Ernest Jenning Record Co. and the band’s own Wish Fulfillment Press(pre-order). The album will be released on evergreen colored vinyl, as a Deluxe LP w/ 28 page zine, CD, cassette and digitally. The zine is a 28 page full color A5 zine with behind the scenes studio photos and artwork.
Following the release of their fourth LP, 2019’s Your Church On My Bonfire, PAWS songwriting partnership of Phillip Jon Taylor and Joshua Swinney, toured briefly, and as the world began to shut down, they slipped out of sight. Phillip retreated north to the Highlands where he focused on his painting, solo work and the rewarding demands of fatherhood. Josh headed south to London, pursuing his other passion as a chef at the highly acclaimed Plimsoll. It would have been easy for both to settle into their new lives, but PAWS never died…and neither did the tie connecting the two friends.
Now the band is pleased to share the album’s first single “Disenchanted” and its accompanying video. The single is out on all streaming platforms.
This blistering creation hooks you the moment the notes come into play, proudly showcasing this robust energy and raw low-end. Melody oozes from the vocal notes that power through the raucous ambience, shifting through these intense peaks of playful passages.
PAWS understand how to connect to their audience, with the most direct soundscapes. The new track captures these explosive rhythms and experimental bursts. Their energy has always been one of their biggest hooks and it’s such an infectious quality that emits throughout the new track. This air of rebellion soars through the fierce foundations and keeps the listener mesmerized on the journey.
A disorientated alienation stalks the first single. “What and who are we as human beings?” Phillip sings above a full throttled punk assault that drops before the two-minute mark while the duo still have breath in their lungs.“That was the first song we wrote and recorded for the album” explains Phillip. “Josh was visiting and we spent all weekend chilling and catching up. Then a few hours before he had to head south again, we just decided to have a quick jam. I played bass and because I have my wee studio set up to record, we just naturally structured a song and tracked it really quickly. It was really liberating.”
Having missed playing together for too long, a plan was hatched, and in October 2022 Josh travelled to Phillip’s home studio in his crofters cottage where work began on the band’s fifth self-titled album. Relying on a set of phone demos and chemistry honed after years on the road the songs came together surprisingly fast. After recording previously with both Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus and Frightened Rabbit’s Andy Monaghan, the band once again seized control of production duties as they had on their second album, Youth Culture Forever.
The resulting record finds the band as grounded and assured as they ever have been. Marrying the deafening assault of youthful abandon with the whispered reasoning that comes with getting older; swaying from anger and exasperation to wide eyed optimism.
Album opener “Helen Back” comes as a bold reawakening, a textural onslaught that tees up a cacophonic ending as Phillips guitar slams into frenetic drums. While PAWS is bookended by two tracks that hark back to the guttural passion of the band’s early records, the album is also one of dynamism and depth. “Elemental Attributes” – featuring Jane Blanchard on vocals – holds an earthy ambience that underpins the songs themes of unconditional love and awe. And across its five-minute run time, the instrumental centrepiece of “Sound Aye No Bother” finds hope in the magic music provides, reminding us it is often our greatest weapon against dark times.
It’s hard to sit by as the world loses its grip on reality, as we all scramble for keys to escape the capitalist cage. And on “One Nation Under DOG”, in a blur of Desaparecidos power chords and lead lines lifted from Guided By Voices treasure chest, PAWS dish out some brutal home truths. “There’s no hope / Only fire and brimstone / If acquiring and selling is all that we have to live for.”
PAWS is a succinct, razor wire encased documentary chronicling the pains of modern living. Delving into the dark underbelly of 90s alternative rock, painting with evocative instrumentals and revelling in celebratory indie punk, the band also embrace sordid pop and ambient electronics. And while it pays homage to where they have come from, it also signals a clean slate for the pair.
Two friends united over distance. After some time apart, all they needed was a spark.
PAWS will be peforming at Connect Music Festival in Edinburgh on 26th August.
And 13th December at London, Seabright Arms.
PAWS Tracklisting:
Helen Back
Plans
Uncertain
One Nation Under DOG
Unfiltered
Sound Aye No Bother
Elemental Attributes
Starf___ers
S.A.H.D
Disenchanted
No Comments