I've Been Persuaded... Faded Paper Figures

 (c) Faded Paper Figures

Mellow, indie, electronica, pop, experimental and soft. These are all types of music that I like, but I would never expect to find a band with these qualities from someone else. I am usually the one of my friends who gives everyone else music. I had given my friend Frank over thirty different artists since I had met him earlier this year and it surprised me when he introduced me to a band I had never heard of.

He introduced me to Faded Paper Figures, an indie pop electronica band originally from Irvine, California. The band formed in 2007 and has had some changes to the way they make music as some of the band’s members have moved across the country. The band continues to write and record all of their music bi-coastally.

I did not know their story when I first heard of them. I did not even know what album the songs I was listening to were from as Frank’s iPod does not have the album listed. I had only listened to them because Frank compared them to the band Starfucker, who we both enjoy.

After hearing them and immediately liking them I decided to hear more of their music and finally find out their album titles. Their album Dynamo was released in July of 2008. They had one video produced for the song “Metropolis”. In May of 2010 their second album New Medium was released.

The band has gained some awards in their career as well. Their song “Being There”, off of Dynamo, won Best Song of the Year in the UC Irvine Songwriting Contest. They were chosen as the Best Electronic live band by the OC Music Awards in 2009 and were declared one of the New York Post's "must have" new music of 2009. They also had a few song featured in the ABC show Grey’s Anatomy and the snowboard film Isenseven.

I was attracted to this band because they were a soft electronica band. Their vocalists John Williams and Heather Alden have soft melodic voice that pair well together against multi-instrumentalist Kael Alden’s compositions.

I plan to follow this band as it continues to grow and work from different coasts of the United States. I know I will keep up with this band’s music but it might just be my friend Frank who keeps me up to date on them. That is fine though because I have thirty plus artists to help him follow.

A point of advice: Even if you think you are great at finding all of the music you like do not hesitate to accept recommendations from your friends.

Recommended song: “Metropolis”, “North By North”, “The Cold Wars”, “The Persuaded”, and “Future Self”