For Berger, Thaw, Freeze, Thaw is a very important document of their voice before they began Hormone Replacement Therapy, a process that has significantly changed their vocal range. Vocals may be what drives much of the content of the record but, as I learn throughout my conversation with Berger and the rest of the band, they are even more essential to the record’s context. “That starts with Nick’s singing, and so it was really easy for us to then just keep building on that.” “It is very much like a vocal heavy and vocal forward record,” says Cook-Parrott. A song like “Body Of Water” perfectly captures what this kind of practiced unity can produce, beginning as a solo trek through bodily autonomy before spinning into a sonic collage of vocal loops and lilting harmonies. The heart of this record lies in vocals, a swirl of voices that starts with Berger but includes Cook-Parrott, Nystrom, and Jones. Buoyant, delicate, and exposed Thaw, Freeze, Thaw is a collection of songs that swell and quiver, starting one place before ending somewhere completely different, without ever feeling disjointed or forced. Though inextricably intertwined with Radiator Hospital, Paper Bee is very much their own entity, something that becomes obvious when making your way through the excellent Thaw, Freeze, Thaw. It wasn’t long until the band rounded into form, adding Tony Richards, Cherise Nystrom, Maryn Jones, and Radiator Hospital’s Cook-Parrott, each playing a key role on their new record Thaw, Freeze, Thaw. “I think that the pandemic kind of forced it to take the shape in a certain way that it wouldn’t have,” says Berger, who wasn’t all that sure they’d ever again release music as Paper Bee. Luckily, most of the band members shared a residence, making practice as much a logical way to combat boredom than anything else. Originally the solo project of songwriter Nick Berger, Paper Bee started to solidify as a proper band months before COVID, putting a stop to any plans of live shows for the time being. If the joy of a new Radiator Hospital record lies in its familiarity, a phone call from an old friend, then the excitement around Paper Bee is in the unknown. You can see that reflected in the music, where Cook-Parrott’s gravelly, cathartic howl and pin-point storytelling make for something both specific and universally inviting. That consistency has earned them a devoted, if understated following, the kind that wears their love like an old tattered band tee. They are also a constant force within the DIY punk scene, a mainstay and welcome addition to any house show or club concert. Primarily the work of singer/songwriter Sam Cook-Parrott, Radiator Hospital have been active for over a decade, releasing several albums of infectious, yearning indie-pop. ![]() ![]() If you are a consistent reader of this site, you are likely familiar, at least in part, with Radiator Hospital. ![]() Radiator Hospital and Paper Bee find themselves at the center of that web. ![]() If you study it closely, the Philly music scene can look like a tangled web of influence and collaboration. On Friday night at the Ukie Club, each of these bands will present their new records and I couldn’t be more excited. Radiator Hospital and Paper Bee are two Philly bands with a whole lot in common, including a distinct mutual affection, but their recent snapshots could not look and feel more different. Sometimes they are a return to something familiar and comfortable, a way to track growth and maturity, a notch in a belt. Sometimes they are the beginning of something, a way to solidify a “band” that’s only existed in anonymous warehouse practice spaces and cramped bedrooms. A way for artists to capture a place and time, a moment that, like all others, would drift away if not put to tape in that specific time and place.
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