A journey of dark and light

Releasing their debut EP on August 26th, Paper Pools’ It’s in Our Mind tells the story conceived by Allen Orr that shows the highs and lows of life. With this release being worked on for over three years, the first formal EP of Paper Pools has literally been years in the making. With elements of psychedelic indie along with synthesizer pop and punk, the release was worth the journey on the other side. 

Allen Orr is both the producer and composer of the project which leads to an understanding between elements of composition and lyrical thinking that most bands with commonly larger teams don’t have the advantage of. Orr’s vision tells the story of his journey traveling and discovering the lights and darks of life. Orr has discussed how one of the major theming of the release is the usage of light in the visuals as well as the music itself. This can be seen in the band’s pre-released singles specifically.

In particular is the track “Turn on Your Lights” which mixes heavier indie rock instrumentation with a psychedelic album cover. Even from the name alone, the listener can understand the thematic ideas of sight. This naming theme can be seen with the other tracks as well and adds to the overall cohesiveness of the songs as part of a whole. Specifically in “Turn on Your Lights,” the song features a “drone note” during the chorus which is played in the synth throughout the song. The tone stays steady and goes back and forth between the tonic and the dominant. Drone notes along with particular uses of the bass show an understanding of music theory that can add to the intensity of chords and add different tone colors to a song. This specific implementation is subtle in execution, yet is masterfully done for such a new group.

An element that this EP excels in is genre mixing. As discussed prior, Paper Pools takes inspiration from heavier rock elements but also has more electronic elements as well. Genre mixing is nothing new, but having each of the songs on the EP being able to still feel related to each other can be a difficult task–a task that Orr is able to pull off with ease. The contrast between something that is more traditionally indie leaning such as “Heaven,” which features your typical lineup of instrumentation to something that is more intimate in theming down the line, shows the group’s understanding of coherency between the songs in how to put them together as part of a whole. With both faster and slower tracks featured in the EP, each step of the journey is covered with grace and tranquility which is very respectable.

Even though It’s in Our Mind comes from a smaller group, each of the tracks shows immense skill and talent of storytelling from Paper Pools–putting the group on the map. With elements grounded in current themes balanced out by otherworldly ideas, the debut EP comes out with a bang at the end of summer.