EP Review: No Paws (No Lions)-No Ghosts

Chalk another one up to good ol' Bridgetown Records. They have gotten their hands on and released this exquisite little EP into the world. No Paws (No Lions) are a three piece from California that perform very airy twee (almost post twee) with a little dabs of goth thrown in, but very lightly and only musically. The music has common threads running through every track, with the twinkling piano lines and mixture of drums and and drum machine popping up everywhere with no guitar to be found. Everything is also super coated in reverb, but not the in the lo-fi way. It's more like pure reverb, with every instrument gaining a minor echo effect that really complements the songs.

The songs are very sweet, very short bursts of very off kilter twee influenced pop. Nothing is close to the three minute mark and there's a child like feel to the whole EP as well, from the cover art to the simple instrumentation. The first track "Don't be Afraid Of Where You Live" is just the title repeated over and over. The title track "No Ghosts" is a cute tune about death and not wanting to die. It's done so well that when a spacier version of the same song called appropriately "No Ghosts (Version)" appears later, it feels in place rather than odd. "Content" stands out both for how restrained it sounds compared to the rest of the album and how good it is. All the songs "Kobe", "Hills", and "For Sean" follow suit, perfect in the dry sweetness of their sound and complete no matter how short they are. No anyone who says drum machines and synths can't sound original, please pick this up and enjoy being wrong. For everyone else, do the same.

(mp3) No Paws (No Lions)-Content

Links:

No Paws (No Lions) on Mysapce
Buy the EP on CD or cassette here, at Bridgetown Records