The imaginary award for the most nerdy cover art of recent months goes to Paper Lips’ debut album The Sound Of Sound. Fortunately, the music is more exciting than the graphics suggest. Paper Lips is a solo project by English singer-songwriter Mike Whittaker, who we know from garage rock / rhythm ‘n’ beat bands The Baron Four, The Jack Cades and Thee Vicars, but what he does here is fundamentally different – no less good though. You’ll hear ten psych folk songs, nine originals and a cover of 13th Floor Elevators’ Splash 1, with chiming guitars, relaxed vocals and summery melodies. They take some time to get used to, but slowly but surely enchant you. Connoisseurs will be able to name the precise audio frequency spectrum, but even without that knowledge you feel that The Sound Of Sound is on the right wavelength.
The Sound Of Sound is out digitally and on vinyl LP through Dangerhouse Skylab and Mono-Tone Records.