You Can Have What You Want delivers just that

Luckily, Quever does not cause the pain his band name implies.

By Tom Carbone

Published April 13, 2009

Jason Quever, the solo musician best known for his work in Papercuts, released his third full-length album today entitled You Can Have What You Want.

Although the band is named after something so excruciating and annoying, Quever makes music that is the complete opposite. Not to be trite, but this album is full of dreamy fusions and blends of noises that create an atmosphere unique to Quever's personal sound.

Growing up on a commune and with ties to Devendra Banhart and Andy Cabic of Vetiver, it's no surprise that You Can Have What You Want has been gaining a lot of attention since the beginning of the year on blogs and in other publications. Critics have been eagerly waiting for Quever's third installment to this solo saga, and they will not be disappointed with his all-analog effort.

The first track on the album is aptly titled "Once We Walked in the Sunlight." The track, complete with keyboard lines, a simple drumbeat and washed out vocals, immediately brings mid-'60s pop to mind, and that is not a bad thing. Quever's voice is incredibly fitting for this style of music, and the first track on the album starts off the effort well.

The third song continues with this theme and sort of reminds me of an older Belle and Sebastian. "A Peculiar Halleluiah," like so much of this record, sounds like a pop song from decades ago. Hushed vocals and layers upon layers of instrumentation make for an interesting track and my favorite on the album.

About halfway through the album, "Dead Love" starts out with organs and sounds almost identical to a Mates of State song. Again with this track we see more electronics and distorted singing. But with the title track toward the end of the album, we get a stripped down acoustic tune. Quever starts out singing, "You can have what you want," and those are the only comprehensible words. Nonetheless, it's an enjoyable pop tune, and the added choral section compliments the overall tone of these songs.

"Wolf" ends the album just the way it started, a simple beat and high-pitched, hushed singing. This song almost sounds like a Peter Bjorn and John B-side, except better. Jason Quever has one of those voices critics are either going to love or hate (this one loves it).

By collaborating and recording with the likes of Vetiver and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Jason Quever has gotten his solo project, Papercuts, a hell of a lot of publicity for an album just now being released. This album will certainly live up to all the praise it will undoubtedly receive this year.