The Cheshire lads in Simmer have produced ten tracks that are drenched in smoke and riffs. As far as sophomore records go, it’s a decent offering and despite having a tendency to tread a little too close to stepping on the toes of their peers, ‘Paper Prisms’ is overflowing with ideas.
Kicking things off is ‘Faze’, and upon first listen its easily mistaken for a long lost Basement track, echo-filled and jam packed with all kinds of pedal board trickery.
‘Caliche’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Control’ are significantly more upbeat, with a much needed injection of pace they balance shoegaze and punk in expert style. Gutsier drum fills and a general shift in intensity really turn this album on its head.
Buried deep in the thirty-three minutes of shimmering guitars there are some vocals. Ghostly in nature, they’re hushed and extremely vague, and although mystifying they almost always dilute into lifeless mumbling. Occasionally they add an interesting ambience, but as far as actual lyrics go, all are almost completely inaudible.
The incredibly expansive ‘Sinewy’ unearths mammoth soundscapes. It’s a bit trippy if you listen and stare out into space. Haunting vocals combined with the ringing of twangy guitars only emphasis the aggressive nature to which the drums conclude the track.
‘Antwerp’ flies by almost unnoticed, it glides for almost three minutes but doesn’t appear to have any real impact. Faceless it passes by and in doing some becomes utterly pedestrian. After a song as beige as ‘Antwerp’ you might expect the following tune to have a bit more colour to it, but ‘Calendar’ suffers the same fate as its predecessor. Void of personality, it plods along inconspicuously.
Inoffensive and easily forgettable, Simmer haven’t quite lived up to the mark set by 2015’s EP, ‘Yellow Streak’. At times ‘Paper Prisms’ threatens to string together a run of wonderful songs but ultimately fails to do so. If all those brilliant tracks with just a shred of tenacity came together on an EP, this would be a very different story.
LEWIS TROTT