Paris Texas - They Left Me With A Sword / They Left Me With A Gun

A pair of EPs arriving without fanfare in consecutive weeks, one can reasonably assume the intended primary audience for ‘They Left Me With The Sword’ and ‘They Left Me With A Gun’ to be those introduced to Paris Texas via the pair’s ongoing arena support slots with Tyler, The Creator. Across the two releases - mixtape in style, with sounds stretching between tracks, and what’s described as a “secret” narrator peppering proceedings with commentary – they touch upon just about every facet of the sounds they’ve offered to date; the 180 vibe shift between the slacker rock ‘Red Eyes & Blue Hearts’ and the high energy, fast rap of ‘Tantrum’ on ‘They Left Me With The Sword’ likely the greatest direct contrast across both, while an alt-rock thread runs through that record’s ‘infinyte’ and ‘Twin Geeker’, ‘Stripper Song’ and in particular, ‘mudbone’, which marries Tame Impala style synths with a Jamie T-esque chorus. There’s time, too, for a softer moment, as ‘No Strings’ takes in a curiously clean guitar and vocal for subtle euphoria – imagine a collaboration between Weezer and Steve Lacy and it’s about halfway there. More immediately accessible than 2023’s ‘Mid Air’, together these releases showcase – as no doubt intended – their myriad of sonic personalities using canny twists and turns in ways that appeal to audiences both new and existing.