Paper Rival is a four-piece rock band from Nashville, so let’s give that obligatory nod to the fact that this is a rock band in a city known for country music. Okay, now let’s focus on Paper Rival’s music, because the songs on their debut, Dialog, are damn good. Paper Rival is being touted as having an “expansive take on classic rock,” which only means that it’s difficult to classify them. Their music is moody, alternative, at times bordering on heavy, but not classic – think Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s rather than Aerosmith. “Cassandra,” the first single, is a mid-tempo, melody-driven, lo-fi beauty, but it’s not the best track. “Foreign Film Collection” has that distinction – haunting, driving, alt-rock bliss. And there is a distinct balance between dark, scream rock (“The Family Ghost”) and musically uplifting (“Keep Us In”). And while a few of these tracks sound too much like a few of the others, we won’t hold that against Paper Rival when the majority of the band’s debut is this good. (Atlantic)
