By Deuce

There’s something very akin to hypnosis going on on “Paperclips”, the most recently released single emanating from Paul Feder. Part of it is firmly lodged in the interminable refrain, the two word titular phrase that sounds like a single word because it’s repeated so much, sometimes for each bar, via what sounds like the snatch of a vocal sample.

Other parts of the hypnosis feeling certainly have to do with the drum pattern. It’s the tried and true four-on-the-floor incessant sound of a kick continuously hitting on the one. Pound this one long enough, and loud enough, and one’s head is sure to be ringing until visions come crawling.

Then again, there’s the heavy duty house bass, which has a somewhat rubbery aesthetic, yet is far too leaden to truly be mistaken for anything else. It holds down the low end with aplomb, adding to the nod factor of the track and the indulgent feeling it produces.

Yet the major factor in the trance-like state of the tune is the surfeit of synths that come pouring out, rapidly, caroming above, beyond, and perhaps even between listeners. Some of them have the staccato peppering of machine gun fire found in video games. The effect is redoubled when, halfway through this two minute and five second affair, Feder seemingly speeds up the tempo, truly blasting off.

This would be a hell of a cut to hear if you were on dope, in a club full of people also on the same (or other) such powerful stuff, moving, talking, dancing, chilling, and pulsating in time to the rhythmic feel. In fact, that’s when the sentiment of hypnosis Feder either is or isn’t aiming for would likely kick in, as does the tempo of the track at close to its midway point, or the alcohol in a beverage at some similar point.

And, with the insistence of the uttering of the refrain (“paper clip”), there’s simply no telling what one’s supposed to get out of it, except as a transition to some sort of hypnotic state in which anything is possible—and everything else is, too.