PAPA: A Good Woman Is Hard To Find

Posted: 16 February, 2012

L.A.-by-way-of-New York outfit PAPA started up a couple of years ago, while pretty much all its members were doing time in other bands. Principle songwriter Darren Weiss and brother Evan were touring with indie darlings Girls (Darren is no longer with the band; Evan recently Australia as the band's guitarist); on one tour, PAPA opened for Girls, the two brothers backing up each night in both acts.

In 2011, Weiss, with music partner Danny Presant, laid down the group's striking debut ep, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find, which is out this week in Oz and NZ on Gaga Digi. PAPA is Weiss' baby. He started it with a simple goal: to make 'American soul music with a punk-rock mentality'. Five songs full of devious truths and well told lies, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find rolls along with a natural, well-worn swagger, combining moments of aggression with stretches of easy bliss, the whole release handsomely endowed with harmony, melody and style.

In its best moments, Weiss' earnest vibrato takes on a Springsteen-like growl; his stories and the songs' effortless grooves coming across both sexy and somehow broken.

It’s a modern, rough-and-tumble take on classic soul; an ode to what's wrong with modern romance, but so full of spark it makes you want to get up the floor and give it all another go.

We like it very much. But don't just take our word for it: have a listen to the whole EP in our player above.

A Good Woman Is Hard To Find is out now on iTunes via Gaga Digi. Check out the video for 'I Am The Lion King', the first single from the EP, below.

Pete : 16 February, 2012

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