While Princess Nokia graced Berkeley’s UC Theater this past Saturday, Jerry Paper took over the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco and performed soothing, existential zig-zags for Noise Pop Music Festival 2019.
Jerry Paper is signed to Stones Throw, a Los Angeles-based record label carrying artists like Mild High Club, Benny Sings, Washed Out and other experimental artists alike. Last year he released Like a Baby (2018) which features collaborations with fellow Stones Throw buds Mild High Club and elegant songstress Weyes Blood.
Before witnessing Jerry Paper in the flesh, Healing Potpourri and Jasper Bones serenaded the crowd, a pleasant intro to the suave moves of Jerry Paper and his cries about the human condition.
Once Jerry Paper stepped out into the limelight, I took a seat at the bar as Annie weaved into the crowd to take photographs. Without saying “hello,” Jerry Paper unravelled in coils of a yellow velveteen dress, kicking off with “Baby” from his 2018 album.
“But underneath/ The flesh facade/ We’re all babies playin’ big/ Same feelings/ Just more words/ But words are the world…”
From the bar’s prime view of the stage, I was enlivened with synth-pop melodies and lyricism at once thought-provoking and childlike. Every snake-like movement of his neck and limbs projected a lighthearted dissociation which carried through the night.
Jerry Paper’s music is guided by a fogginess between simulation and reality. He tackles the limits of language in fully encapsulating sensory experiences. Lucas Nathan, the human underneath the Jerry Paper persona, spits out his inner monologue and generates colorful, bizarre, almost comical noises that ooze from his synth to mask the grey hues of reality. The Jerry Paper reality sounds like it comes out of a bionic being.
The setlist was mostly from Like a Baby (2019), Big Pop for Chameleon World (2014), and Carousel (2015). It would have been a joy to witness him perform Fuzzy Logic (2013) live, but it might be six years too late. Nonetheless, what once was a word-of-mouth fantasy is now happily immortalized in my brain.
Article By Bianca Lu
Photos By Annie Nguyen
