A delicately expansive collection of chamber folk, the new album from Paper Beat Scissors reaches to far-off wonderment and far-in feelings with ease. Parallel Line explores all the mess and complexity inherent in our day-to-day existence with a quiet, wide-eyed vulnerability. This third full length, mixed by heavyweights Sandro Perri and Dean Nelson (Beck), centres Tim Crabtree’s arresting vocal work and reflective lyrical palette to stunning effect. Each song’s movement is threaded by gorgeous string arrangements, weaving an emotional core to the record. At its centre sits a question: how is our sense of self strung within a multitude of people, places, experiences? Parallel Line unfurls as a series of (un)certainties, shot through with a visceral tenderness.
