Produced by Eric Avery
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof
credits
from Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Produced by Eric Avery
Performed by Paragon Cause, Eric Avery and Eric Gardner
Vocals - Michelle Opthof
Guitar - Jay Bonaparte
Bass and Synthesizers - Eric Avery
Drums - Eric Gardner 
Recorded at Neko Studies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2021 and Acorn Manor, LA, California

Autopilot

Think I'm Going Crazy Over You (Acorn Manor Mix)

10 Think I'm Going Crazy Over You (Acorn Manor Mix)

Written by Paragon Cause
Produced by Nature of Wires and Paragon Cause
Performed by Paragon Cause and Nature of Wires
lyrics
There's no time for hide and seek
Knowing you will seek release
Picking now and you don't see it
Truth is now you don't see it
Time always tells the truth
Time always tells the truth
Picking now and you don't see it
Lying and happy
Lying and happy
Just repeat it
Time always tells the truth
Time always tells the truth
But you don't see it
Time To
Time To Leave
But you don't see it
Time to Time to Leave
credits
from Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Written by Paragon Cause
Produced by Nature of Wires and Paragon Cause
Performed by Paragon Cause and Nature of Wires
Mixed by Nature of Wires
Recorded at Neko Studios, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Mastered by Noah Mintz, Lacquer Channel Mastering

Time To Leave

Vinyl, CD, Digital

Play Me

07 Autopilot - Paragon Cause -  Play Me

Being disconnected can make one feel adrift, alone, treading water with no shore in sight. Conversely, the notion of being ‘cut off’ from the outside world represents calm, tranquility, and an opportunity to refresh mind, body and spirit in breathtaking solitude.

For Paragon Cause, Ottawa’s passionate purveyor of endlessly interesting and evocative modern electro-rock music, Disconnected is the title of their latest single from their forthcoming album, Autopilot, set for release in the fall of 2021. It is a song born out of one of those proverbial ‘back to nature’ moments, an experience of pure bliss and quiet in stark contrast to the busyness, bullheadedness and constant noise of our technology based modern life, according to lyricist Michelle Opthof.

“It came from a happy memory of me sitting in a waterfall in Gatineau Park. I had no signal there, in fact, I didn’t even have my phone. I was just soaking up the sun and the fresh air in this amazingly positive space, which is not my normal. I recalled the memory and what I was thinking at the time: ‘why did it take so long for me to come here? Am I allowed to be happy? Yes, it’s okay for me to feel good.’ So, this is sort of my ‘I’m allowed to be happy’ song,” she said, adding that the genesis of the song, which inspired the vibe, melody and eventually the lyrics, was from an unusually pop-oriented chord progression developed by her partner in creativity, Jay Bonaparte.

“Originally this song was called Hideaway and Michelle sang the line, ‘it’s my hideaway and that’s where I’ll stay.’ But we didn’t have the chorus, just the melody and the rhythm for the chorus. So, she and I and our collaborated Sune [Rose Wagner of the Raveonettes] kept throwing lines out there, and eventually I said ‘disconnected’ and it just fit,” he said.

“We approached it as almost a California-style rock and roll song because it has some of that sunny, surfer feel to the guitar. It just worked for us, even though it was in the dead of winter when we recorded it” noted Bonaparte.

Disconnected is one of many songs on Autopilot that deal with larger, more existential issues such as the role time plays in our lives and how time is impacted by culture, technology and the other perils of humanity in the 21st century. It is the band’s third album in the past three years, and a testament to their growing confidence as artists, which has manifested itself in an adventurous, contemplative, but still eminently enjoyable listening experience. 
credits
released June 18, 2021

Disconnected

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04 - Autopilot - Paragon Cause - Disconnected

A dream inspired track about the future. Recording at Neko Studio. 

Written by M VanKheul, K Opthof

Performed byM VanKheul, K. Opthof, B. Ross

Produced by The Desk

<a href="https://theartistunion.com/tracks/4b9933" rel="nofollow">Download for free on The Artist Union</a>

Purchase

Next Time

A fearful dream of reality. Power can hold someone tightly.

EscaPe

Fear

Our version of the Holiday Classic Silent Night. Recorded live in the studio. Enjoy!


<a href='https://theartistunion.com/tracks/a056a2'>Download for free on The Artist Union</a>

Silent Night

Free Download

Silent Night - Happy Holidays

Live in Hintonburg version of the Fleetwood Mac Song, Rhiannon.

Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac Cover) Live

Rarities and B-Sides

Rain on the Side

Rain On The Side

Huron Carol

Huron  Carol

Lies Between Us

Kick Me (When I'm Down)

Buy Vinyl

Kick Me (When Im Down)

The hit single from the EP Lies Between Us by Paragon Cause

To purchase vinyl/cassette or CD visit Bandcamp

Seperate Lives

Buy Vinyl/Cassette

Drop Me In

Save Me

To Purchase FULL VINYL of What We Started - Featuring Lost Cause
https://paragoncause.bandcamp.com/album/what-we-started-2

When creativity meets talent, drive, and encouragement from a valued mentor, the results can be spectacularly successful and incredibly fulfilling.

Ottawa-based ethereal alternative/electro-pop duo Paragon Cause are such a case, as their new full-length album, What We Started, is a powerfully bold statement by a band that is brimming with confidence and artistic zeal.

Coming less than a year after the release of their EP Lies Between Us, it sees the dynamic musical duo of Michelle Opthof and Jay Bonaparte reunite with producer/songwriter Sune Rose Wagner, a Danish pop music legend, best known for his band The Raveonettes. Together, over an intensive and intensely collaborative session in the fall of 2019, they composed, arranged and produced an collection of 10 exceptional new songs, that highlight the magical way Paragon Cause have evolved as artists, developing a style and sound that is imbued with emotional darkness, light and plenty of shades of grey.

The first single for the album, Lost Cause, is the perfect example of this edgy and more instinctive approach to writing, as it began with Opthof noodling around on a piano, while Wagner and Bonaparte were out of the studio. They returned and encouraged her to keep developing the unique riff into a full composition. She later added parts of lyrics that she had rolling around in her head for some time, brought a powerfully compelling melody into the mix and a potential hit was born.

“It’s a song about the end of a relationship and coming to the conclusion that the other person is a lost cause. Sune loved the song right from the beginning, and once I started working on the lyrics and melody, it just came together super fast after that. I guess I was just in a mood,” Opthof said with a chuckle.

Thematically and sonically, Paragon Cause’s form of pop music is expressive, but often of emotions and experiences that lean towards the darker, grittier and less rose-tinted version of the human experience. Opthof admits that writing is a way for her to process and expunge her darker thoughts, and express sentiments that may not always be happy, but are ones that most people can identify with – exactly the purpose of good art.

What We Started

Lost Cause

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Someone Else, the intense opener off the new album by Paragon Cause -Lies Between Us. 

Purchase a full copy of the album on Bandcamp (vinyl, Cassette, Digital)

Someone Else

Buy Full Album

Credits
from Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof, Sune Rose Wagner
Performed by Paragon Cause and Sune Rose Wagner
Lyrics by Michelle Opthof 
Vocals Michelle Opthof, Sune Rose Wagner
Guitar: Jay Bonaparte
Keyboard: MIchelle Opthof
Bass : Jay Bonaparte
Drums: Sune Rose Wagner
Recorded at Neko Studies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2021

I'm Not Here

rom Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof, Sune Rose Wagner
Performed by Paragon Cause and Sune Rose Wagner
Lyrics by Michelle Opthof
Guitar: Jay Bonaparte
Keyboard: MIchelle Opthof
Bass and Drums: Sune Rose Wagner
Recorded at Neko Studies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2021

Think I'm Going Crazy Over You

Think I'm Going Crazy Over You (Original Mix)

Making Up for Lost Time
written and performed by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof and Sune Rose Wagner
Produced by Sune Rose Wagner
Lyrics and Voice by Michelle Opthof
Guitars - Jay Bonaparte
Drums and Bass - Sune Rose Wagner 

Paragon Cause, the ethereal electro-rock duo from Ottawa, did not let 2020 slow them down. Fresh off the successful release of their prior two albums, the duo is set to release a collection of singles, an EP (Crazy Over You, 2021) and a new album (Autopilot!) that further highlights their desire to create music that is both compelling and artistically fulfilling. The due further expanded their palate by bring some iconic and surprising collaborators on board, Liam Howe (Sneaker Pimps) and Eric Avery (Jane’s Addiction). Although the duo is known to lean towards the darker side of music, this collection of songs provides a welcome sense of optimism. 

With a style that combines a warm, enveloping electronic sound that at times borders on post-punk and shoegaze, Paragon Cause bring melody and excitement to the forefront, defying labels. Combine that with Indie influenced vocals that stand up to the best you can think of, Autopilot feels that creatively the gloves are finally off. 

Though written and recorded before the world went into lockdown, this new album has been cast in a new light due to the pandemic and the combination of longing and optimism in each song feeling more acute. 

Autopilot also represents two musicians—Michelle Opthof and Jay Bonaparte—continuing to make the most of their time, and because of that, taking chances they might not have otherwise. It’s that embrace of risk that brought them to their most trusted collaborators, Sune Rose Wagner, leader of the Raveonettes. 

With Wagner collaborating on every step of the process, Paragon Cause banged out all the songs for Autopilot in 10 days—a spontaneous outpouring of creativity where the music and melody would spark lyrical ideas and vice versa. While they came into the initial sessions with dozens of small ideas for potential songs, the duo estimates that those resulted in minor elements for two tracks. The rest came via flashes of inspiration. 

Paragon Cause are making the most of their time this year in advance of Autopilot’s release, with plans to drop seven singles from the record over the course of 2021, leading to the full album unveiling in early 2022. Kicking things off is the appropriately named lead single “Making Up For Lost Time,” a track that Bonaparte says was an attempt to combine the feeling of a Jesus and Mary Chain tune with the structure of an Everly Brothers song. And it was this song that Wagner helped bring across the finish line by encouraging to spend an evening listening to Bananarama. After that, the song wrote itself, with lyrics of taking chances, making mistakes, and acknowledging those same missteps. 

“It’s happy, but there is a sense of longing,” Bonaparte says about “Making Up For Lost Time.” “It was initially meant to be about friends but after the last year with COVID, I think it can be applied to our current life in general. We want people to either sit in their car or put on some headphones and close their eyes. We want people to hear the song and remember what it was like living the last year and then feel the sense of optimism as life will start to come back to us. By the end of the song, we want people excited to begin the next chapter in their lives. It is meant to be a glimmer of hope through the long fog of isolation, whether it be from a past relationship or life.” 

Paragon Cause certainly have a lot to be excited about. On top of this new album and the many singles that are to come this year, the duo will have the distinct honor of remixing a new track from classic new wave band Berlin (“No More Words,” “Take My Breath Away”), and will surely be working on more new music along the way. There’s no time to waste.

Making Up for Lost Time

Buy Vinyl or CD

Making Up For Lost Time

Will I keep your secret
Or watch it all unfold
Sure we all want something
But selfish ways implode
You plead innocence
You plead innocence
You are exposed

Denied is that your choice
We won’t accept it we won’t accept it
Denied is that your choice
We will choose for you
We will choose for you
We will choose for you choose for you

How long have you been hiding
Pushed it down but it’s still there
You’re the last person I suspected
Constant shock from what I know
Just how low you’d go
You plead innocence
You plead innocence
You are exposed

Denied is that your choice
I won’t accept it
I won’t accept it
Denied can you make it right
We won’t accept it
We won’t accept it
Denied and I won’t accept it
I won’t accept it
Let me choose for you
We won’t accept it we won’t accept it

You won’t get away
You won’t get away with it
You won’t get away
You won’t get away
You won’t get away with it
credits
from Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Produced by Sune Rose Wagner
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof, Sune Rose Wagner
Performed by Paragon Cause and Sune Rose Wagner
Lyrics by Michelle Opthof
Guitar: Jay Bonaparte
Keyboard: MIchelle Opthof
Bass and Drums: Sune Rose Wagner
Recorded at Neko Studies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2021 
Recorded at Neko Studies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2021

Denied

Sometimes it takes a little while for a song to grow on you, even if you’re the one who wrote it. For guitarist/songwriter Jay Bonaparte of Ottawa electro-rock duo Paragon Cause, he had initial doubts as to the structure of a song he had just written. After sitting down with partner Michelle Opthof and producer/collaborator Sune Rose Wagner to add some meat to his musical bones, Two to Play is now one of the best compositions on the band’s forthcoming new album.

And in an interesting twist, the lyrics tackle the issue of being a people pleaser and trying to cater to other people’s needs, desires and tastes.

“When I was writing the words, I realized that I have this desire to make everyone happy and please people, which a lot of other people have. In that moment I realized, ‘you know what? No, I am not going to seek the approval of everyone. I am just going to go it alone and do my own thing.’ And it wasn’t about being petulant and selfish, it was about confidence and relying on my own talents and opinions and feelings – putting myself first,” said Opthof, adding that this attitude of having faith in one’s own abilities and being brave and taking risk applies to Paragon Cause’s approach to their music and careers in recent years, especially in the creative process leading to Autopilot.

Bonaparte overrode his early hesitancy once he heard the melody and vocal tracks as well as some saucy and scintillating keyboard elements added by Wagner.

“It was a very strange experience writing that song. We almost deleted it, and now it’s one of my favorite songs on the album, which is strange because I usually don’t do a 180 like that. I just knew I wanted a dream poppy, shoe gazey, dramatic, powerful kind of song, and that’s what we ended up with,” he said.

A topical song with an incessantly groovy melodic hook and rhythmic intensity, Two to Play is another example of the songwriting and performance excellence of the talented duo that comprise Paragon Cause. 
lyrics
Looking forward falling back
Moving along without your blessing
Time won’t stop for you

Pushing pushing your not ready
You’ve fallin behind and your running now
There’s no guarantees
And your certainty scares me

How do you know if you’ll still be there
How will you know when I pass by
Looking forward falling back
Moving along without your blessing
Time won’t stop for you

I keep running until the guilt sets in
I knew when I began that it was wrong
I did it anyway
I did it anyway
It takes two to play

I took delight in the fall
Cuz for them you took him down you took him down
You think that you could get away with this

Now your running scared
Now your running scared
Now your running scared
Now your running scared
Now your running scared
Now your running scared
Now your running scared
Now your running scared
credits
from Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof, Sune Rose Wagner
Performed by Paragon Cause and Sune Rose Wagner
Lyrics by Michelle Opthof
Guitar: Jay Bonaparte
Keyboard: MIchelle Opthof
Bass : Jay Bonaparte
Drums: Sune Rose Wagner
Recorded at Neko Studies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2021

Two To Play

from Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof
Performed by Paragon Cause 
Produced by Jay Bonaparte

Lyrics by Michelle Opthof
Guitar: Jay Bonaparte
Keyboard: MIchelle Opthof, Jay Bonaparte
Bass : Jay Bonaparte

Recorded at Neko Studies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2021

More Than We Can Handle

rom Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Produced by Sune Rose Wagner
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof, Sune Rose Wagner
Performed by Paragon Cause and Sune Rose Wagner
Lyrics by Michelle Opthof
Guitar: Jay Bonaparte
Keyboard: MIchelle Opthof
Bass and Drums: Sune Rose Wagner
Recorded at Neko Studies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2021

Think I'm Going Crazy Over You (Staten Island Mix)

from Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof, Sune Rose Wagner
Performed by Paragon Cause and Liam Howe
Lyrics by Michelle Opthof
Guitar: Jay Bonaparte
Keyboard: MIchelle Opthof
Bass : Jay Bonaparte
Drums: Liam Howe
Synth: Liam Howe
Recorded at Neko Studies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2021

Think I'm Going Crazy Over You (Brooklyn Mix)

Think I'm going Crazy (Brooklyn Mix)

THINK I'M GOING CRAZY OVER YOU
Produced by Liam Howe
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof and Sune Rose Wagner

With a nod to their varied and eclectic influences, Ottawa, Canada’s passionate providers of ethereal, atmospheric electro-rock, Paragon Cause, continue their assault on the conventionality of pop music in the 21st Century with the release of their latest single, Think I’m Going Crazy Over You (Jupiter Mix).

It is the next musical masterwork to come from the compellingly talented duo of Jay Bonaparte and Michelle Opthof, working in close collaboration with two veteran European hit makers/producers/songwriters Sune Rose Wagner of The Raveonettes and Liam Howe (The Sneaker Pimps/FKA Twiggs/Lana Del Ray) as part of their forthcoming new album, Autopilot.

“The idea was to take the lyrics and melody for Think I’m Going Crazy Over You and create different music to accompany it, changing the meaning of the song each time. We wanted to experiment with the power of music and sound, so we recorded three different versions of the same song.” said Bonaparte.

“We wanted to show how an individual can view one single situation from a different point of view, depending on the day, their feelings, their point of view,” added Opthof.

Although the three versions of the song also represent the breadth of the pair’s musical inspirations, and the various people who helped bring Autopilot to life. The single version (Jupiter Mix) of the song was recorded with producer and Sneaker Pimps co-founder Liam Howe. The song features a production style that maintains a driving pulse and darkening atmosphere, but the mood changes dramatically when the backdrop changes to a psyched-out dance groove.

Lyrically the song is more about being in a frustrating circumstance or time in life and not being able to say or do anything about it, according to lyricist Opthof.

“I was in one of those moods where I was frustrated with something going on around me and my inability to make change for something, I feel really passionate about,” she said.

It is a sentiment, and a song, that will no doubt find resonance amongst pretty much anyone who hears it.

We called this version the Jupiter Mix as Liam heavily featured his classic Jupiter 8 synthesizer. The sounds of that instrument really bring the emotion forward. 
credits
released May 14, 2021

Think I'm Going Crazy Over You (Jupiter Mix)

written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof and Sune Rose Wagner
Performed by Paragon Cause
Produced and Mixed by Liam Howe
Mastered by Noah Mintz, Lacquer Channel Mastering, Toronto, Ontario
Recorded at Neko Studios, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Art by Katie Gallagher

Think I'm Going Crazy Over You (Jupiter Mix)

It is rare that a song comes tumbling out of the hearts and minds of its creators nearly complete. For the songwriting team behind the tune Play Me, a forthcoming single off the new album Autopilot by Ottawa electro-rockers Paragon Cause, inspiration met craft, and the result is a musical masterpiece of subtle swagger and sarcasm, built on the bedrock of compelling and evocative soundscapes, perfect for the cynicism and self-absorbed nature of life in 2021.

“I was just sitting down strumming the guitar when I came up with this cool part. I went and played it for Michelle [Opthof] and Sune [producer/collaborator Sune Rose Wagner of The Raveonettes] and both of them fell in love with it instantly. We recorded the guitar part in two takes, and Michelle only needed two takes from start to finish, making up the lyrics and melody pretty much on the spot before she recorded her vocals,” explained Paragon Cause’s Jay Bonaparte.

“The song is making a pretty strong statement about the way people treat one another and how they act and talk on social media. It’s almost like a tease to all the haters in your life who take advantage of you, but you know that’s what they’re doing so there’s that sarcasm in saying, ‘I will let you play me over and over again.’ I am wise to you now. I know this game. I know how to play it and how to make it work for me,” added Opthof.

"The best memory of recording this song is that after we completed it, we did a rough mix and played it over and over about 30 times on our home stereo. Sune Rose was rocking out to it playing air guitar while we all grooved with a glass of wine. We knew we had something fun, but there was still something missing. So Sune Rose took the song and added a guitar part which really brings the song together. Its pretty incredible hearing Sune's guitar on the song,, its so iconic"

Play Me is the latest in a string of acclaimed singles from Autopilot, and album that has established the duo comprising Paragon Cause as creative forces to be reckoned with for years to come. 

credits
from Autopilot - LP, releases August 13, 2021
Written by Jay Bonaparte, Michelle Opthof, Sune Rose Wagner
Performed by Paragon Cause and Sune Rose Wagner
Produced by Sune Rose Wagner

Lyrics: Michelle Opthof
Vocals: Michelle Opthof, Sune Rose Wagner
Guitar: Jay Bonaparte, Sune Rose Wagner
Drums/Bass: Sune Rose Wagne

When creativity meets talent, drive, and encouragement from a valued mentor, the results can be spectacularly successful and incredibly fulfilling.

Ottawa-based ethereal alternative/electro-pop duo Paragon Cause are such a case, as their new full-length album, What We Started, is a powerfully bold statement by a band that is brimming with confidence and artistic zeal.

Coming less than a year after the release of their EP Lies Between Us, it sees the dynamic musical duo of Michelle Opthof and Jay Bonaparte reunite with producer/songwriter Sune Rose Wagner, a Danish pop music legend, best known for his band The Raveonettes. Together, over an intensive and intensely collaborative session in the fall of 2019, they composed, arranged and produced an collection of 10 exceptional new songs, that highlight the magical way Paragon Cause have evolved as artists, developing a style and sound that is imbued with emotional darkness, light and plenty of shades of grey.

Wagner had been a long-time idol of both Opthof and Bonaparte, but this time around, they were less star-struck and approached the sessions that would lead to What We Started with a heightened level of confidence and focus in their own abilities, seeing Wagner now as more of a valued senior collaborator.

PARAGON CAUSE

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