It’s a story as old as time itself: two people meet, sparks fly, they form an indie-electronica band, tweet their Danish noise-pop idol that he should work with them on their next project, to which he agrees and arrives post-haste. Okay, so maybe this scenario is… uncommon, but it indeed happened and the results are the new Paragon Cause EP, Lies Between Us; a dark and textured, sometimes lush and hopeful record that grabs your attention and keeps it.
Half-rooted in the Maritimes, Paragon Cause is the brain-child of Michelle Opthof and Jay Bonaparte. Bonaparte hails from Sydney, NS and developed his musical chops in Halifax playing with musicians such as Rose Cousins and Benn Ross of Thrush Hermit. He moved to Ottawa in 2007 where he eventually met his counterpart, Opthof two years ago and immediately had musical chemistry together.
The first track ‘Someone Else’, draws you in immediately with a solid beat and dirty/crunchy synth-work that will make you intrigued to know what’s next. The vocals come in shortly after but they only tease, then fade, while a second synth darkens the horizon and suddenly it feels like there’s some sort of enormous presence looming, like what I imagine you’d hear as the Greek Titans finally escape the depths of Tartarus.
The song itself chronicles a woman, hesitating, listening to other people’s plans and not following her own path. She’s fallen behind in life but something tells you she isn’t going to just give up (hint: it’s the lyric ‘And I’m never giving up’)
You could say the album as a whole is the chronicle of a woman, an autobiography of sorts, “It’s about a woman escaping from many things,” say the band, “a relationship, a world and a society that tries to control you…. The idea that society expects you to be a certain way and so you live your life according to someone else’s ideals….”
The six-song EP was produced by Sune Rose Wagner, of the noise-pop group The Raveonettes, who brought his own brand of dangerous energy and sonic expertise to the mix. The duo reached out to Wagner on Twitter and to their surprise he responded and they were face-to-face by the New Year.
“His music has this intensity, even in the softer songs, that we love and only Sune Rose can create,” Jay says. “We love his honest lyrics as well as his dedication to women’s rights… he takes chances in his music, he is not afraid to do something different to make the song unique.”
The band knew their music was intense, so they wanted someone that could match the intensity. Sune Rose was the obvious choice to bring in an outsider’s perspective with enough common ground between them to shape the music the way they envisioned.
Upon arrival: instant harmony.
“It was an incredible experience… we would finish two songs a day and then we would do a rough mix, go to our living room and pump them. Sune would play some air guitar to the songs and we’d just sit there and groove together. Perhaps, even more amazing, was that he shared unreleased albums with us. Incredible.”
The whole EP is rather enjoyable. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the third track, “Separate Lives,” at first, I found myself humming it to myself later in the night. Now, I’m actually quite enjoying it.
Two stand out tracks besides the opener for me are “Save Me,” where Wagner essentially challenged the band to write their version of a Ramones song (the outcome was their second single and music video) and the EPs outro, “Drop Me In,” which tonally is much different than the five songs previous. It’s stripped down, with a soft guitar progression, and gorgeous layered vocal harmonies with words that will put warmth in your chest.
All in all, it’s a solid way to spend ~24 minutes. I would recommend listening to all the tracks – some would particularly do well with headphones to really take in the lyrics and synth textures.
Paragon Cause have a full length album, which includes three more songs produced by Sune Rose Wagner, coming out as early as February 2020. So keep an eye out.
Tour Dates:
10.25.19 – Ottawa, ON @ Live on Elgin
11.20.19 – Toronto, ON @ C’est What
12.03.19 – Toronto, ON @ The Horseshoe Tavern