It may come as a surprise to learn You Can Have What You Want is Papercuts’ fourth studio album. Raised in a commune in Humboldt County in Northern California and now based in San Francisco, Jason Robert Quever first gained public exposure recording piano tracks for singer/songwriter Cass McCombs. Since then he has worked with Owen Ashworth (Casiotone for the Painfully Alone), The Skygreen Leopards, Duster, and Vetiver. However, it was in 2007 with album number three where the man responsible for Papercuts made his mark with the critically acclaimed Can’t Go Back. On that album, Papercuts demonstrated a keen ability to craft sickly sweet pop gems from a number of different angles. At times, Can’t Go Back resembles If You’re Feeling Sinister as though recorded by Belle and Sebastian dealing with a nasty hangover. The notes from the sheet music are similar but played in a languid and weary manner. Instead of Murdoch’s wistful vocals, Quever’s voice quietly pleads in concert with deliberate acoustic guitars and mournful violas. At other times, Quever’s ingenious ability to incorporate improbable genre twists brings to mind the Beatles in their most creative moments. ‘John Brown’, for example, comes across as an ode to Queen Victoria’s manservant displaced in the Old West more than it resembles the American abolitionist of the same name. The way the song switches gears in the homestretch turns a good song into a great one.You Can Have What You Want takes two-steps back and one-step forward. The album relies too heavily on Hammond organ keyboards in an almost willful refusal to advance on the steps Papercuts took to make Can’t Go Back such a compelling record. The album draws more from 2004’s promising though ultimately inferior Mockingbird. But the news isn’t all bad. Improved songwriting and Quever’s gift for melody makes Papercuts’ latest effort a thoroughly enjoyable experience.It takes a moment to get settled into the narcotic grooves. Quever’s organ holds its notes a touch longer than expected, plodding percussion weighs heavily before sliding into its comfort zone, and hazy vocals dropped in the middle of the mix allow only fragments of Quever’s poetry to be anything more than ambiguous. For all that, it’s possible to imagine You Can Have What You Want as a concept album. Papercuts imagine a time when things were better on opener ‘Once We Walked in the Sunlight’ and supposes how we might re-live these halcyon days on the advice of unlikely messianic vessels on ‘Dictator’s Lament’ and ‘The Machine Will Tell Us So’. Lyrics lifted from Quever’s diary may be too innocent and naive to take seriously, but no more than, say, Ziggy Stardust. And truth be known, a good number of us are still hopeful a Starman is waiting in the sky.Papercuts wisely save the best tracks for the latter half of the album. ‘Jet Plane’ opens with a thoughtful acoustic guitar before giving way to an organ that acts like an updraft. Percussion begins the play a more important role. Soft piano and string accents are reminders of how good Quever can be with more complex arrangements. Quever’s lyrical perspective changes too. Instead of narrating from the third person, his words take a more personal approach. On ‘Future Primitive’, Quever stretches his voice above the music (“I’m a soldier in the world but will leave it all someday / what’s the use in trying to hide where we came from anyway”) and then proceeds to outline his determination to cross rivers, valleys and mountains””Papercuts’ own magical mystery tour. On the title track, a soft piano and acoustic guitar work side-by-side with the keyboards to greater effect. Even after finding “we can have what we want,” the last two tracks (‘The Void’ and ‘The Wolf’) are final reminders that life will never be all strawberries and orgasms.You Can Have What You Want’s cover art is a trippy watercolour of androgynous starmen jettisoned from a spacecraft that may or may not be a nod to Bowie’s alter-ego. The album certainly isn’t as ambitious as Ziggy Stardust nor is it too likely Papercuts’ fans will arrive at gigs with painted lightning bolts on their faces; it was probably never Quever’s objective for the project in any event. Yet with so many media pundits pointing fingers at the ills of the world, it’s nice to hear an artist who isn’t afraid to paint an escapist’s way out of this mess””even if Papercuts leave the important bits muddled in the production. Although come to think of it, Ziggy left us in much the same predicament. 78% Papercuts on Mypsace