If you’re not careful (really, even if you are careful) this album will make you lose faith in your sense of reality …but in a sort of good way.
Jerry Paper, who describes himself as an ‘11th dimension musical entity’ who occasionally occupies the body of Lucas Nathan, is absolutely obsessed with the simulations and simulacra. I won’t go into his entire bio, as it can be found plenty of other places online, but it’s worth noting that this guy is definitely unique.
This album starts off very abstractly by loading you into a world, Chameleon World Module #44839099328 to be exact, as if you are some sort of disembodied entity being thrust into the physical plane for the first time. Over the course of the album Jerry barrages you with little existential drops of knowledge until you just aren’t sure whether you’re living in the real world anymore. At least, that’s how it went for me.
As far as the sound goes: it’s pretty funky, just not at all the way ‘funk music’ is funky. Some of them are definitely more accessible than others, but I picked out the tracks which I think are both the most meaningful and most pleasing to the ear. The coolest part about the album is that all of the instruments are simulated versions of different instruments, which contributes to both its unique sound and the semantic quality of the album as well. It’s a simulated album concerned with the existential uncertainty concerning simulations — it’s a pretty cool concept.
Top 3:
#3: Chameleon World
https://open.spotify.com/track/6R1qYGx8abmNGz0yPNQQpL
I always love it when a song sounds happy and pleasant, but the words tell a totally different narrative. I must admit, I’d never really known the words to this one until I looked them up to write this very paragraph. I tell you this because I had already chosen this song as one of my top three before I even knew what he was saying and after reading them I think it’s even better than I did before. The song has a fun and playful bounce to it, which I think makes it totally worthwhile to listen to on its own, but the words actually inspire some honest dread in me. Nothing hits the spot like some good ol’ dread.
#2: Synthesized Mind
My last day back home in California this summer before returning to school my friend Rosie picked me up to aimlessly drive around and chat before we had to part ways for another half of a year. I noticed a huge golden building towards the top of a nearby mountain and made her drive us over there. It ended up being a massive, golden Buddhist temple. It was very ornate and was filled with beautiful gardens and statues; it’ve one of my favorite places I’ve ever been to in LA. It’s pretty crazy that I lived so close to it for so long and had no clue it was even there. Anyways, I showed Rosie this song on the way back to my house and I’m pretty sure it blew her mind more than that whole experience.
#1: Real. Now. Love.
This song sets itself from the rest in two ways: by being the most conventionally likeable AND amazing flute sounds. Now, I’d like to make it perfectly clear that I don’t this song is normal and average in any sort of way, but I do if I were to try to show this artist to a person with a more generic taste in music this is the first thing I would show them. It’s funky, catchy, and fun to sing along to but is still extremely unique and thought provoking — one of my favorite songs to date.
Bonus Content!
I thought it would be unjust of me to not share the music video to Real. Now. Love. with you all, because it’s really just something else. I first watched it this summer half asleep at 3AM and it really took me on an adventure. Also, while reading up on this album I discovered that the artist actually released it alongside a video game! I haven’t had the opportunity to play, but it looks pretty wild.
