The Paper Road – Sad Songs & Quarantaine (Album – Icy Cold Records)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Wave, Rock-Wave.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: This is a Portuguese solo-project driven by Nuno Varudo (involved as singer with She Pleasures Herself).
The album is the first full-length by The Paper Road for Icy Cold Records, which had already issued the CD single “Wish Me Well / Strangers Lost” in 2021.
Content: The artist deals with a sweet Dark-Wave format mainly carried by guitar and achieved with some electronic arrangements. The songs feel like an invitation to dream away which is accentuated by melodic guitar parts.
+ + + : This work might appeal to lovers of the Cure and especially reminding me of the “The Head On The Door” period. Nuno’s warm, and deep, timbre of voice is an essential element to this production. One of my favorite cuts is the more Rock-Wave driven “If You Should Fall”.
– – – : This is an easy listening and enjoyable work although I’m missing a bit more passion, power and especially a high light.
Conclusion: “Sad Songs & Quarantaine” is an honest debut album but I think there’s more potential hiding inside this artist.
Best songs: “If You Should Fall”, “Strangers Lost”, “The Bleeding”.
Rate: 7.
Artist: www.facebook.com/thepaperroad
Label: www.facebook.com/icycoldrecords
About The Paper Road
The Paper Road is the post-punk, darkwave and shoegaze solo project of Nuno Varudo, started in 2014 in Lisbon, Portugal. Varudo also sings with the Portuguese band She Pleasures Herself, whose third album “Latex” was covered on Side-Line in She Pleasures HerSelf returns with 3rd album, ‘Latex’.
The project began with self-released digital tracks: “So Tired” in 2014, then “Falling”, “Love Me”, “Just Pretty”, “The Night Away” and a cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” in 2015.
Icy Cold Records picked up the project and released the CD single “Wish Me Well / Strangers Lost” in 2021, followed by the debut album “Sad Songs & Quarantaine” on CD in 2022. The label lists the album under the title “Sad Songs & Quarantine” on Discogs.
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