Kael and Heather married in 2005, and shortly thereafter moved to Irvine, CA, where they met John Williams, who was also in the area doing a PhD in comparative literature at UC Irvine. Heather was studying biology, and Kael was already hard at work creating music for film and TV projects. One afternoon in the fall of 2007, looking for a distraction from writing his dissertation, John suggested to Kael and Heather that they write some music together. Within three weeks they had written a few songs, and put them up online (on ye olde Myspace). The response from listeners was fast and overwhelming, so much so that they were motivated to continue writing and release a full album, Dynamo, in 2008. After playing some shows in southern California, the band won “Best Electronic Band” at the OC Music Awards, and was listed by the New York Post as a “new music must-have.” NPR called the band’s debut album “clever, intriguing . . . even beautiful.”
When John graduated and got a job at Yale, and Heather was accepted to medical school at UCLA, the band realized they’d either have to carry on via long-distance songwriting, or else end the band. With Dynamo doing so well, and many more songs still on their way, the band decided to try songwriting bi-coastally. John purchased some home-recording equipment to take with him to Connecticut, while Heather and Kael moved to Los Angeles, where Robot Repair built a beautiful studio space for Kael to work in. During the next three years, the band sent tracks back and forth online, video chatting, and emailing notes to write two more studio albums, New Medium (2010), and The Matter (2012). The band’s sound had matured by this point into something more powerful and intense. Alternately sparse and epic, harmonic and grinding, pensive and playful, FPF was clearly moving beyond their electro-pop beginnings.
By 2013, FPF’s music seemed to be circulating everywhere, with millions of plays on Spotify, LastFM, Hype Machine, and Pandora, and appearances on everything from ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” to MTV’s “The Real World,” NBCSports, and E! Then, just as the band was contemplating a fourth album Kael and Heather discovered that they were expecting a baby. Many fans wondered whether Faded Paper Figures would be able to maintain its songwriting work with so much going on. But very little seems to slow them down. If anything, the music now comes with even greater clarity and brilliance, and as a result, the band is now set to release their fourth studio album in August, 2014, titled “Relics.” This most recent album promises to be their most honest, sophisticated, and ambitious, spanning a vast musical and lyrical spectrum, from epic synth-pop anthems on questions of life and death, to quiet, intense meditations on the passage of time. The band seems to have fully mastered not only their signature sound (electronic beats, gorgeous guitar riffs, and beautiful harmonies), but accelerated full force into a brave new world of sitars, analog synths, and even more intense vocals. Whatever emotions and uncanny dreams those day jobs are creating, it seems to be paying off enormously in their musical lives.
San Narciso
Faded Paper Figures Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Los Angeles calling
each one of us falling
into vorticist dreams.
In the air you see
the city cells sprawling
like circuits installing
these silicon dreams.
and so go out to find you,
but then something reminds you
Oh San Narciso shines
from sea to sea,
the message we’re sending,
we want to believe.
Oh concentrate
and watch us move the sea.
Entropically trending,
but we want to believe,
yeah, we want to believe.
I can work the phones
to sort out these demons
with some formal agreements,
or you could let down your hair.
I can feel your pulse
break free from surveillance,
now it’s the last thing that makes sense,
the only reason I care.
I ran out of mind inside,
and so I’m coming to find you
before something reminds you
Oh San Narciso shines
from sea to sea,
the message we’re sending,
we want to believe.
Oh concentrate
and watch us move the sea.
Entropically trending,
but we want to believe,
yeah, we want to believe.
The lyrics of Faded Paper Figures’ song, San Narciso, speak of a metropolitan city that is slowly losing its grip on the people who inhabit it. The song starts with the description of Los Angeles calling to each one of us, as if we are falling into vortexes of dreams. The city seems to be sprawling like circuit cells in the air that install silicon dreams. The singer of the song is running out of their mind and needs to find someone, but something reminds them.
The chorus of the song talks about San Narciso, which shines from sea to sea, and the message we are sending is that we want to believe. There is an entropic trend in the city, but we still want to believe that we can make a difference. The singer is trying to sort out the demons that surround them through formal agreements, or the other person could let down their hair while feeling their pulse break free from surveillance. It is the last thing that makes sense and the only reason the singer cares. However, they still feel like they are running out of their mind and have to find the person before something reminds them.
Overall, the song paints a picture of a city that is losing itself to the Silicon Valley and surveillance culture that surrounds it. The chorus of the song speaks of the hope that the people have, despite the entropic trend that surrounds them. The lyrics of the song capture the feeling of losing one's grip on reality in the face of technological advancements, and the desire to reconnect with the people around us.
Line by Line Meaning
Out to sea we hear Los Angeles calling each one of us falling into vorticist dreams.
Los Angeles is calling, and we're all being drawn into our own swirling, dream-like reality.
In the air you see the city cells sprawling like circuits installing these silicon dreams.
The city seems to be alive and growing like a machine, installing its technological dreams everywhere.
I run out of mind inside, and so go out to find you, but then something reminds you
I'm losing my mind inside, so I'm searching for you, but then something brings you back to reality.
Oh San Narciso shines from sea to sea, the message we're sending, we want to believe.
San Narciso is a beacon of hope across the ocean. Our message is clear, we want to believe in something greater.
Oh concentrate and watch us move the sea. Entropically trending, but we want to believe, yeah, we want to believe.
Watch us as we try to control the chaotic tides. We know entropy is inevitable, but we still choose to believe in the power of our actions.
I can work the phones to sort out these demons with some formal agreements, or you could let down your hair.
I can try to fix our problems through official channels, or we could let go of our inhibitions and be wild and carefree.
I can feel your pulse break free from surveillance, now it's the last thing that makes sense, the only reason I care.
I can sense your heartbeat as you break free from being watched and controlled. It's the one thing that truly matters, and the only reason I still care.
I ran out of mind inside, and so I'm coming to find you before something reminds you
I'm losing my sanity, so I'm rushing to find you before you're brought back to reality as well.
Contributed by Tyler M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@user-rg9zd7xo3n
2023年才听到这个乐队的歌曲，我反反复复在听你们全部的歌曲，听它时回忆起很多事情，这绝对是我今年最喜欢的歌，找live找到这里的。
@cmsgt4
This song needs a bump. People in 2021 hear here!
@miasmusic7531
Heard these guys for the first time last night with my boyfriend who's a big fan; absolutely lovely show. Afterwards I talked to each of them and they were seriously the nicest, down to earth people. I got to know them and they got to know me. An unforgettable night, to say the least :)
@ams_1046
Ohh..
@aidenwhitehead7018
Found out about these guys through soundcloud, definitely the most under rated band I've ever come across
@CavePony
there are many more, but you just don't know them.
@aidenwhitehead7018
CavePony hence; come across
@reaperdestt5099
Damn, I just started listening to this band today, and it's so sad they didn't got the recognition they deserved.
@DRsideburns
5 years later, even more underrated
@coffee838
@@reaperdestt5099 i kinda like it, i listened to them as they were coming out, me and my sister did
i thought they were way more popular LOL
kinda based