I loved the CD.  Most the time there are a couple songs I like on a CD but there were maybe two on this one I didn't love.  I hope to see these guys spread their wings and fly
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Honestly, that's how I feel about Shaimus's album, Paper Sun. Having heard the band's amazingly catchy All of This months and months ago, I decided to pick up the album (actually available through the band's official website, www.shaimus.com). I expected the entire album to be similar to that song, which is an up-tempo tune that keeps me from dismissing the genre of "Pop/Rock" completely. Now, I know this could officially be classified as "Indie Rock," but that's only because the band is not signed to a major label. Calling all independent music in the rock category "Indie Rock" is kind of like calling all Nascar fans rednecks.

Wait, bad simile.

Anyway, I'd venture to guess that the Pop/Rock genre of music is the most overcrowded, which would lead people to believe that it's easy to write a good Pop/Rock song. This couldn't be further from the truth. Maybe the genre lets in the most crap. Maybe this genre has allowed albums with one catchy (notice I did not say good, I said catchy) song in a group of twelve into the club.

I don't think any good or even average song is easy to write. The coordination and composition behind instruments or, in the case of techno and hip hop or rap, computerized beats and riffs, is not easy. Not anyone can do it, which is why good music is sometimes hard to find. A lot of garbage gets produced because people with a lot of money and no musical inclination whatsoever are letting it happen.

Writing a good Pop/Rock song may be one of the hardest things to do in music, yet Shaimus nailed it 10 times on the same album.

Why is Paper Sun so good? Quite possibly because Shaimus is independent. With no one to answer to, many independent artists are allowed to produce the kind of music they want, rather than having to have a "radio friendly" song to kick it off and something to eventually sell to McDonald's to use in a promotion. The song mentioned earlier, All of This, has wonderful coordination between the piano and guitar that makes you feel like you're bouncing through the song. Don't let that fool you, however, as a quick paced guitar solo sneaks in the song.

I suppose the album could be described as mostly mellow. Left to Dry kicks off the album with a dream-like guitar guiding the listener through the song to each time the chorus is sung. The up-tempo All of This is followed by Run My Spirit Down, a reminder not to get too low no matter what life throws at you. The opening lines immediately grabbed my attention the first time I heard them because of their unique way of looking at how we sometimes ignore the good things when times are rough:

"The earth went spinning 'round the sun today / A little faster than it did yesterday / Still I insist to ignore the steady pace of the passing days / And I run my spirit down."

Wisely, the slow tempo of the song is followed by the upbeat Put it Off. That cadence is what makes this album so good. The listener is never allowed to zone out, which is a problem with many albums that try to have several slower paced songs. Shaimus definitely can increase your pulse rate through intricate guitar play and excellent composition, then slow things down without making the listener think, "This doesn't fit." Even within slower songs, such as Old Fashioned Love, the tempo is kicked up at a point before the song ends and moves into When I Dream, which starts out simply, with only a voice and a piano for about the first minute and fifteen seconds. When the drums and guitar enter the song at that point, it makes the song seem complex despite its relative simplicity.

Simply put, Shaimus created a fantastic piece of art with Paper Sun. I cannot recommend this album highly enough.
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