PAPER RELICS

Paper Relics are brothers Harry and Stuart Towell from the East Midlands in the UK. They began both of their separate musical paths in the same family home during adolescence. Their musical paths met as Harry discovered Ambient music in the late 00’s, often sampling Stuart’s acoustic guitar playing in his early production work. In 2010 they began working on a collaborative project under the Paper Relics guise, releasing a short EP on Harry’s Audio Gourmet netlabel before their debut album ‘Over Exposure’ followed in the summer of 2011 on US label Time Released Sound. That was an album steeped in their family history, with the cover artwork being captured by their father in the 1970s on the farm where he’d grown up. It was an ode to the past, with the then imminent demolition of the farm, with the land having been sold to a housing developer.

In 2018 after a 7 year hiatus, they released ‘The Road Home’ on Harry’s Whitelabrecs label. This album traced back the steps they’d taken individually since Over Exposure was released, an album which had been recorded back in the family home before they’d moved out. When making The Road Home, they were both married and home owners and this album reflected back upon the paths they’d taken to get to where they were in life at that point. They released a cassette EP in 2021 called ‘Emersion’, as a means to reflect back upon the pandemic, marking an opportunity to enjoy the freedom of the outdoors.

The Paper Relics sound draws influence of the brothers’ wide-ranging musical tastes, of electronic music, ambient, post rock, indie, blues, modern classical, folk and a whole lot more. The guitar will usually take centre stage, with Stuart’s compositions of electric, acoustic and bass guitar often providing the core song structures of their sound. The music is largely instrumental, but vocal pieces occasionally feature to add further narrative to their concept-rich music. Deep and cinematic atmospheres will often be a key component of their music, given Harry’s love for Ambient music. By accident, the Paper Relics albums have served as a collection of documentary artifacts, to capture the progress and lives of the Towell brothers. Yet it is also hoped that their music carries with it a message to the listener, that time is precious yet also, an opportunity.