When You Know (You Know)

Sandsnake

Gameplan

The Messenger

LYRICS:
In a car crash, you'll rearrange your head
And all the memories you wish you'd wish you'd never had
I told you how I'd been hurt before
And you'd hold me and say we're better for it now

I should know better
You, in your sweater

I was standing high up on the wall
Oh, I can still hear you from here, yeah, but if I listen, I might fall
No, you don't think before you speak your mind
And I don't think that I'll speak at all

You should know better
Signed, my dead letter

If I can't stop this, I don't want this
Tell me now before the silence
Cut me down and strike relentless
I can't stop this, I don't want this
Tell me now before the silence
Cut me down, me down, me down

You hurt me the way that you'd been loved
And it kills me that I cannot feel a thing
In a car crash you'll reassess your life
And my role in it.
We're gonna drift apart             in a car crash, in a car crash

I can't stop the growing fear that we'll waste all our golden years together
I can't stop this. First, you're gone then you appear, and now I know that it is clear
Tell me that I'm wrong, but I think that we're not meant to be

I don't want this, I can't stop this
Tell me now before the silence
Cut me down and strike relentless
I don't want this, I can't stop this
Tell me now before the silence
Cut me down and strike relentless.

Car Crash

An abstract song about loneliness between two people who can't communicate because they didn't meet at the right time in life.

LYRICS:
She's made of loneliness
Can't sleep 'cause she's depressed
Smoking this won't make you less
Oh, God, I hope I passed her test

If you sift the darkness, we'll meet like ink and water
One thing I'd like you to know is that this helps keep me alive

Her God was stretched until he left
A billion people in her chest
I'll make a move so she won't have to guesstimate her value

I can't stand the nightmares
They're captivating, almost
Stuck in this rectifying mess
One day, you'll have to take me along

I'll paint the sky with just one lie
I swear I'm fine, though you won't be mine, so I will

Keep calm, source the impact
No, I refuse to listen
Eyes closed, slowly breathing
Won't you let me know when this table turns?

Stop: survey the aftermath
What's had, and what is left?
I can't think until I eat

Now you know
Swim the gore
I died alight

Feeling me? Past the Aegean Sea
I'll tell you what I need if you tell me how you feel
I lied tonight
Losing this race, aren't you?

She dreams of loneliness
Can't sleep 'cause she's depressed
I'll make a move so she won't have to
Make a move so she won't

Set the tone
Uncertain eye
I died alive

Still feeling me? Past the Aegean Sea
I'll tell you what I need if you tell me how you feel
I lied a lot
In the next life, I'll be you

Coelacanth

A rumination on a decade-old connection and where they are now.

LYRICS:
We drive around in your car again
What a way to spend an afternoon for two

We pass the storefronts and the memories
Laminated glass keeps us from what we had
But these shops aren't selling memories
They're merely dreams that we will never get to share

And you could say it's not the best time
But why can't we play pretend?
And what's on the line?
All of my values
As I point out the line about your scars in my song

I had a dream we fell in love again
And when I wake I feel it slip away
Reading back our chats like poetry
With cheap Shiraz I'll check the read receipt and drink

And you could say it's not the best time
But why can't we play pretend?
And what's on the line?
All of my values
As I point out the line about your scars in my song

I felt a spark so I got in your car and your engine took us home
Where you kept your wedding vows so your God won't strike you down
Has it been ten years?
I haven't a clue
It gets hazy when I drink
And now you've spent a lifetime with him
And I'm aching on my own

Check the CD, check the CD, oh
Check the CD, check the CD, oh
Check the CD, check the CD, oh
Check the CD, check the CD, oh
Check the CD, check the CD, oh
Check the CD, check the CD, oh

We drive around in your car again

Speed Trap

Scald is processing the end of a relationship between polar opposites, running through everything that was disagreed on. The second verse touches on the difficulty of accepting the end of the relationship even after it's gone. Every relationship changes us irrevocably and I found myself changing to be more like my ex-girlfriend after we had broken up. How much of this is nostalgic mimicry?

LYRICS:
You like the shower water hot, and I don't wanna burn
You never know just when to stop, and I don't ever learn
You always wanna order in, when I wanna go out
And when I don't know how to talk, you're always drowning me out
I'm used to sleeping with a fan, I'm guessing you'd rather not
But if you listened to my songs, you'd stop calling 'em pop
I know that we should call it off, but you keep turning me on
You never know just when to stop, and I don't ever learn

All these places I left my heart
Can't you see that I'm left crumbling, stumbling?
Cannot get a word out when you look at me
Why can't I seem to face the truth?
It's that we're just too different
Live a lie or say goodbye
Why am I not who I want to be?

INT. SHOWER - FLOOR
I grab the faucet and turn
Wrinkly fingers, threats of time, I'm enjoying the burn
And even though we called it off, you're still keeping me up
I'm still tracing all the threads from when you tangled me up
The truth is that we don't owe each other a lot
We're just rentals of a film we finally learned how to stop
I know you're thinking through the tears, but I'd still rather drink
Cause you don't know how to feel and I don't wanna think

All these places I left my heart
Can't you see that I'm left crumbling, stumbling?
Cannot get a word out when you look at me
Why can't I seem to face the truth?
It's that we're just too different
Live a lie or say goodbye
Why am I not who I want to be?

All these places I left my heart
Can't you see that I'm left crumbling, stumbling?
Cannot get a word out when you look at me
Why can't I seem to face the truth?
It's that we're just too different
Why am I, why am I, why am I not who I want to be?
Who I want to be

Scald

Paper Anthem is the brainchild of Fayetteville, Arkansas twenty-something Joseph Hitchcock. The multi-instrumentalist has been making music for as long as he can remember, first taking piano lessons at the age of six. From there, the son of a blues singer learned to play the guitar and found his voice and, after dabbling in roles in other bands here and there, decided it was time to work on some of his personal material. Though the name itself wasn't chosen until November 2014, Paper Anthem began as an emotional outlet in November of 2013 when Joseph first started playing shows to mostly empty bars. Nowadays, the bars aren't so empty.

Though the songs weren't written to connect as an album, they were conceived during a depressive period in Hitchcock's life. His subconscious had found a way to abstractly bottle his thoughts and emotions. Looking at the album as a whole, however, themes emerge and become readily apparent. It appears to take place on an empty Earth where a single soul wanders the desolation in search of something beautiful that, as it turns out, was actually inside his or herself the entire time. This is, perhaps, a reflection of Joseph's feeling of being stuck in a small town, coupled with a long-time fascination with science fiction and fantastical video games that give his lyrics such grand imagery.

Taking inspiration from the likes of Snow Patrol, Foals, Tegan & Sara, Coldplay, Brian Eno, Tom Vek, and more, Hitchcock fuses elements of pop, big beat electronica, piano rock, and even math rock. "Some of my songs are inspired by the way two guitars often work together in math rock, but done on piano instead with my two hands" he says. "When I was a teenager, I listened to a lot of drum and bass and big beat electronica, and I think the way those songs add instruments one-by-one and build influenced me greatly, because I find myself doing that on songs like 'Cardboard Cove', 'Pantheon', and 'Speechless'."

Hills Hills Hills

Au Revoir Nexus

Aquatic

The City

Sophrosyne

Like the ouroboros, Paper Anthem begins exactly when it ends, as American singer-songwriter Joseph Hitchcock abandons a near-decade of solo artistry for a fresh start in London, home to all the late noughties indie that inspired him. Here, Hitchcock meets the other three members of the increasingly international Paper Anthem lineup: guitarist Noor Harajli (Brazil), bassist Carlo Haltrich (Romania), and drummer Joe Spoors (Nottingham), all filmmakers who accidentally fell into the music industry. The fruits of an aggressive recording schedule were finally plucked in December 2023 with the release of their first EP, A Victimless Crime, merely a small taste of what they’re planning for 2024 as they continue swimming to the surface of the endless sea of noise that is the London music scene.

Popular tracks by Paper Anthem