Some bands have such an original feel that any time they cross your mind, you can’t help but spend a week listening to them and only them, because nothing else quite scratches the itch that they create. Maybe it’s the result of originality, maybe it’s just good music – either way, it’s an interesting little feedback loop, and one band that does that to us often is Chicago’s Paper Mice.
The band has been around for over a decade now, but 2021’s 1-800 Mondays was a perfectly timed companion for those allegedly post-pandemic, global ground zero blues. The record felt chaotic and new, but also self-consciously narrative and highly progressive. In a word, many were boiling it down to ‘classy.’
We think classy is a good adjective for them to this day, and, spoiler alert, that’s not about to change on their upcoming covers EP, Neurotic City. Even if the whole thing goes by in less than 10 minutes.
Pre-order the record here, and enjoy the premier of “Private Dancer,” originally performed by Tina Turner, here below.
Also, if you copy-and-pasted everything up to this point and replaced Paper Mice as the subject with fellow Chicago luminary Nnamdï Ogbonnaya aka NNAMDÏ, it would all be true. We can’t believe our ears that we get to have them both in the same place. Here’s what frontman Dave Reminick had to say about the tune itself:
“There are so many ways to approach covering a song, and from very early on, we decided ours would be to reimagine the original as if it had always been a Paper Mice song. To do this, we basically recompose the original song, retaining some elements (usually the vocal melody and words) in their original form, and transforming most other aspects (such as meter, phrase length, chord structure, instrumental approach, and musical feel) so they feel good to us. It was really important to us that listeners be able to recognize what we’ve done to the original, so we always try to choose songs that a LOT of people already know. We decided it would be extra fun/challenging to pick songs that are super far from our style, eventually taking up residence in the realm of the *Capital P* Popular Song. “Private Dancer” was the first song we ever covered as a trio. I’ve always adored Tina Turner, and “Private Dancer” has this kind of minor-key moodiness I think translates super well into a Paper Mice song. I later found out that the song was written by Mark Knopfler from the band Dire Straits, who were, coincidentally, my favorite band from the age of 3 until I was around 10 years old!”
Well, how about that – here’s a continuation from the press release as well:
Paper Mice are back with the three-song covers EP, Neurotic City!These aren’t so much covers as they are complete page-one rewrites. The band has reimagined three well-known anthems, dismantling and reassembling them into their signature brand of puzzling post-punk peculiarity. And to make this special release extra special, they’ve enlisted the vocal talents of three of Chicago’s most talented vocal talents – Nnamdi Ogbonnaya (NNAMDÏ, Monobody, Sooper Records), Miranda Winters (Melkbelly, Mandy), and Calvin Fredrickson (Gerund, Sewing Needle).
The three songs also neatly trace the nearly 20-year history of the band. Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer” recalls the more punk-forward aggressiveness of their debut Paint It Pink, while “Love Will Keep Us Together” hints at the melodicism that emerged on their sophomore album, The Funny Papers. Their most recent reworking of ABBA’s “S.O.S.” embodies some of the eccentricity and heaviness from their latest record, 1-800-MONDAYS. Fans of Paper Mice will be delighted to hear the band’s oddball takes on these classic songs, while uninitiated listeners who unintentionally click on these unconventional versions while searching for the original recordings will be… um… surprised?
Hell yeah they will be – special thanks to Justin Pearson and Three One G Records for helping us set up the premier, this one hits home in all the right ways.
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