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Released on June 17, 2016 via FatCat Records
PAWS are back after a tough year of touring, with their third studio album, No Grace. Produced by Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus, the Glasgow-based three piece put the album together in legendary Scottish studio Chem 19 and a private studio in Somerset. The result is worthy of widespread attention.
There are a select number of bands whose release of new material gets me genuinely excited. PAWS are most definitely one of them. Given the material which has preceded this latest album, there was no reason for those excitement levels to drop off. No Grace continues with several PAWS trademarks. A killer rhythm section, with both Josh Swinney on drums and Ryan Drever on bass never letting up in their blistering delivery. Philip Taylor weaves magic with his lead guitar and emotive vocals that grab your attention. The three of them seem to be right at the top of their game, on this third album.
From the very early days of their self-released demo tapes and in particular the first song I ever heard from the band, ‘Catherine 1956’ (later to feature as the opening track on 2012’s debut album Cokefloat!) I’ve been taken by the naked and raw emotion Philip Taylor puts into his writing. Like some of my favourite songwriters I’ve genuinely been moved from what I’ve heard and not something I can say happens with any regularity this last decade or so.
Even laying it all out there, there appears to be an inner turmoil with Taylor, as he laments on ‘N/A’, “Hyper-honesty is crippling me”. If we take this literally then it’s even more amazing that so much honesty, seemingly to his detriment, gets poured into these songs. He further references his past experiences when he sings “have I learned nothing from the events that haunt me”. Again, brutally honest to a fault, but for me Taylor deserves a lot of credit for this, despite the obvious difficulties this transparency causes him. Ironically it’s this candour that gives these songs a certain amount of gravitas.
Musically, the songs are equally as impressive. Title track ‘No Grace’ kicks off with a nice guitar intro before vocals and the rhythm section kicks into gear propelling the song forward. It’s a formula that gets tweaked and revisited to great effect throughout the album, while never giving you the feeling it’s repetitive. PAWS have always been very good at the quiet-quiet-loud method and it shows up in places here to great effect under the guidance of Mark Hoppus (Blink 182).
There are some real standouts on the first few listens, from ‘Impermanent’, which has a real sing-along chorus, to the broody, dark instrumental delight that is ‘Salt Lake’, which feels like the upstart little brother to ‘War Cry’ from the previous album Youth Culture Forever. There’s not a filler in sight, from the first note to the last, with the band hitting everything dead centre. That year of touring seems to have really honed their skills and Mark Hoppus brings out the best in the trio. This record is scoring top marks everywhere you look. My only real gripe is the running time. My own self-indulgence wishes it ran to twice its length, but the “love ‘em and leave ‘em” approach certainly works too.
This is a really great album, highlighting Philip Taylor’s excellent song writing and the almost symbiotic relationship between Ryan Drever and Josh Swinney. If you like to rock out to great songs that have a lot of heart, then this is the album for you. Highly recommended.
