The Paper Raincoat
The Paper Raincoat is an imaginative collaboration between Brooklyn songwriters Amber Rubarth and Alex Wong that brings to life a colorful world teeming with compelling characters, dream-like storylines, and metaphorical narratives. Their debut EP Safe in The Sound is an introduction to this fantasy world drawn from real experiences of excitement and solitude its creators shared in moving to New York City.
The story is based around the world of a fictional character named Grace, who on the eve of her 50th birthday begins to question her happiness and the choices she's made in her life. When she receives news that her estranged father, a failed inventor, has died, she returns to her childhood home to help settle his affairs. While cleaning out his study, she uncovers early designs for a paper raincoat, the invention on which he staked their family fortune, and that subsequently tore the family apart when it failed to sell. She is flooded with intense memories of a pivotal day in that very room, when she made the conscious decision to give up on her dream of becoming a writer in order to avoid the disastrous effects that happened as a result of her father’s choices. She starts to question whether there might have been a better way for her life to unfold, and decides to find out by rewriting her own story in a novel she titles The Paper Raincoat.
The songs are a cinematic blend of pop-folk orchestral arrangements, peppered with electronic textures, and overflowing with unforgettable melodies. "Our goal was to create songs that were enjoyable on any level…” adds Alex. “…Catchy and meaningful enough for listeners to relate to whether they knew the back-story or not. Once they liked the music, we felt discovering the story hidden inside the songs would only increase their connection to them."
Alex and Amber have been collaborators and friends for several years, starting with a chance meeting at a wintry show in Buffalo NY and Amber's subsequent decision to become the first official stalker of Alex's previous band, The Animators. Nowadays, both Amber and Alex are experienced and thriving musicians in their own right. Amber is creating an international buzz as a solo artist with over 1,000,000 plays on MySpace, three month-long European tours, the most recent with guitarist/songwriter Adam Levy (Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman, Amos Lee), and a First Place Award in the International Songwriting Competition (Lyrics), which was judged in part by her musical hero, Tom Waits. Amber's new record will be released this summer, and she will be touring all over the nation and again in Europe this Fall. Alex has since signed up on the long waiting list to stalk her in return.
Meanwhile, Alex has been cultivating a reputation as a sought-after artist, composer and producer in NY and LA. His former band, the Animators, achieved much national attention and critical acclaim before their 2007 breakup. He now writes, performs and records with several prominent NYC artists, including Vienna Teng (Rounder/Universal), and will co-produce her upcoming record this spring. His original score for the play, Everyman For Himself won a 2006 LA WEEKLY THEATER AWARD for best original music. Alex co-produced Amber's first solo record in fall 2004, as well as her 2006 EP, Unfinished Art, as well as produced and arranged the Paper Raincoat's debut EP.
The group celebrated the release of Safe in the Sound in March with a string of concerts at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles, Canal Room in NYC, and Club Passim in Boston. IndieSoundsNY.com describes their live show as “bringing a sense of wonder and whimsical optimism into life.” Rubarth adds, “The live shows are quirky, too, with all of the different instruments and harmonies. It feels cinematic… but not in a goofy way.” New York is quickly embracing the band and in just a few months they have graduated from selling out 2 NYC residencies at Rockwood Music Hall, to booking their follow-up show at Bowery Ballroom at the end of July. The band is being embraced out of the gates by industry and fans alike, and in addition to having music currently under consideration for TV/film placements, one can expect to see their touring schedule come alive in late summer.
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