Paper Dragon

Servant of Wonder

2026-06-21T00:00:00+12:00

Greetings Paper Dragon fans, and happy June Solstice to you, the shortest day of the year down under! Actually, i've looked into the matter, and that's not quite true, if by "down under" you mean "south of the equator". Within roughly 0.33° latitude of the equator, atmospheric refraction prolongs daylight enough at the solstice to split the annual minimum between two equally short days on either side of it, while inside the Antarctic Circle the solstice falls within a continuous stretch of polar night, making many dates equally sunless [*]. So it is uniquely the shortest day only across the broad band between those two regions. But enough about atmospheric optics.

Artwork by Helena Teichrib

Today we released a new song on our Music page: "Servant of Wonder". It's an evocation on the edge and the first song whose lyrics i wrote by massaging a mumble track. What a winning hack! As with the similarly written "Feed the Whirl", don't hunt too hard for sense beyond the sound, but do gently rock. We hope you enjoy it.

And about that gig... We're working on it. Will get back to you!

[*]	Reasoning from the generalized sunrise equation.

Rimu Charming

2026-03-21T00:00:00+13:00

Greetings Paper Dragon fans, and top of the March Equinox to you! As the nights cool, the light softens, and the olives darken, we welcome autumn down under. And what better way to do so than with a round of song?

Today at long last, we released a new album on our Music page. It's called Rimu Charming and features tales of ecocide, anti-lullabies, deals of a lifetime and check-ins from the grave, redcoats, tempests, shipwrecks, oh my, all cooked within a thick and savory musical stew.

Album art by Helena Teichrib

Critics are raving, but don't let them put you off. Listen on, listen on!

"With the release of their new album, Rimu Charming, Paper Dragon have grown wings or at least a sixth toe and leapt playfully beyond the bounds of their Mt Eden Unpop™ sound and into... Mt Albert Mélange? Sandringham Shenanigans? I don't know what you call it, but they got bass now." ~Matt van Roijen, music critic for the New Zealand Timez

We're practicing these new songs and aim to play them for you live later this year. Stay tuned!

Feed the Whirl

2025-12-22T00:00:00+13:00

Greetings Paper Dragon fans, and top of the December Solstice to you! Mostly sunny skies, light breezes, and a high of 24°C herald the start of summer down under in Auckland, a perfect day for the beach. Let's grab the leftover chana dal and head to Piha!

As is our custom upon the change of seasons, we published a new song on our Music page today. It's called "Feed the Whirl" and sets to minor reggae a cry of disaffected youth, though we can't be sure. Alex wrote the words from a mumble track and claims no strong sense behind the sound and fury.

Nevertheless, it's guaranteed to be a local radio success. Says Tom Waits, "This is the kind of song you want to turn up full blast, put on those leotards, hip boots, and your bathing cap and do the frog right there in the middle of the driveway. I'd like to see more of that going on." We hope you enjoy it.

Artist's impression by Helena Teichrib

In other news, we plan to gig again early next year and will alert you of our next public appearance. Till then, Happy New Year!

His Bargain

2025-09-23T00:00:00+12:00

Happy September Equinox, everyone, the start of spring down under and a time of new beginnings. New seedlings in the ground (beans, peas, beetroot, lettuce, and kale), new blankets on the bed (cotton instead of wool), and a new song in the air.

The latter is called "His Bargain", and you can listen to it on our Music page till time unwinds. It sets to music William Butler Yeats's 1933 poem of the same name:

Who talks of Plato's spindle;
What set it whirling round?
Eternity may dwindle,
Time is unwound,
Dan and Jerry Lout
Change their loves about.
However they may take it,
Before the thread began
I made, and may not break it
When the last thread has run,
A bargain with that hair
And all the windings there.

Is the poem about fidelity to one's beloved? Maybe the Myth of Er will give us a clue. Or maybe not.

Anyway, you don't need to understand the poem to enjoy the song. Just sit back and let the music and mesmerizing voice of guest artist Wax (whom Alex met in a songwriting workshop) transport you to another world.

Allegory of Plato's Spindle of Necessity by Stefano Bianchetti (1857)

In other news, we quit Tunecore, our music distributor of the last 1.5 years, because the reach and revenue they returned weren't worth their 36$ annual fee and crummy customer service. We hear that the other big music distributors are much the same. Consequently, this website is once again your exclusive source for Paper Dragon music. Long live the Indie Web!

The Street Sounds to the Soldiers' Tread

2025-06-21T00:00:00+12:00

Happy June Solstice, everyone, the start of winter down under! Does it get any darker than this? No, by heavens, but it will get wetter. 'Tis the season for plating trees.

Today we released a new song on our Music page, a punched-up version of a song Alex wrote a while back on a side project. It's called "The Street Sounds to the Soldiers' Tread" and sets to music A. E. Housman's subtly homoerotic 1896 poem of the same name about a British civilian farewelling a passing soldier whose gaze he meets. Housman, the acerbic critic, is no doubt grumbling in his grave over our musical setting, but hey, what's he going to do about it? We hope you enjoy it.

Illustration by Agnes Miller Parker from a 1940 edition of A Shropshire Lad

(For a decidedly different musical setting of the same poem, listen to this version written by Lennox Berkeley in 1940.)

In other news, if you're at Tiny Triumphs in Devonport tonight, please ask the proprietor why he never returned our calls or emails. We wanted to play for you.

Lullaby

2025-03-20T00:00:00+13:00

Happy March Equinox, everyone, the start of autumn down under and the date when daytime decreases fastest. Don we now our gray merino, mindful of the wind and weather. Strike the drum to join the chorus: fei jo jo jo jo jo fei jo a!

Today we released a new song on our Music page, a contra setting of W. B. Yeats's "Lullaby" that will rock your toddler awake with postcoital scenes from the myths of Paris and Helen, Tristan and Iseult, and Zeus (as swan) and Leda. Oh my! Enjoy!

Paul Cézanne's Leda and the Swan

And if you're around Devonport this Saturday night, stop by Tiny Triumphs. We play there at 20:00 and just might sing you a lullaby.

Christopher's Song

2024-12-21T00:00:00+13:00

Happy December Solstice, everyone, and welcome to summer down under! Gosh, look at all those Luisa plums ripening on the tree!

Today we released a new song on our Music page, a spot of musical theater to punch up your holidays and a respite from those trite ol' Christmas tunes. It's a tale from the sea we call "Christopher's Song".

Avast, Solstice to starboard!

Not to be total grinches, we quietly quote within it a popular Christmas song. Have a listen, and the first person to email us its name and start time wins a free ticket to our first concert of 2025. Ho ho ho!

Playing at The Nix

2024-10-04T00:00:00+13:00

Dear Paper Dragon fans, you are cordially invited to our next concert:

Saturday 19 October @ The Nix Ockham Collective, 6 Nixon Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland
Doors open at 19:00 and music starts at 19:30
Admission by koha at the door
Part of all proceeds goes to Forest & Bird to protect NZ’s wild places

Bonus: local singer-songwriter ISLA will open for us. About herself and the show, ISLA writes, "ISLA is a sleepy singer-songwriter based in the vibrant Tamaki Makaurau. She found her feet as a performer when she attended an open mic hosted in a sea cave. ISLA will be supported by fellow caveman and nacho enthusiast, Isaac."

Come one, come all!

Album 3

2024-09-23T00:00:00+12:00

Happy September Equinox, everyone, Spring down under! Let us begin anew with fresh flowers on the kowhai tree, fresh carrot seed in the ground, and a fresh album on jukebox. Yes, it's Paper Dragon Album 3, waaaaa [arms flailing like Kermit the Frog]! You can read more about our cleverly named album, listen to it incessantly, or buy it, all from our Music page. You can also find the album in abridged format on major music streaming sites tomorrow. Enjoy!

What are critics saying about Album 3?

"Those dancing days are gone... Not!" ~William Butler Yeats

"Trying to be glad. No harm in trying." ~A. E. Housman

"Best Mt Eden Unpop I've heard since Paper Dragon Album 2." ~Matt van Roijen, music critic for the Onehunga Review

Album 3 Release Concert

2024-08-10T00:00:00+12:00

Dear Paper Dragon fans of New Zealand, on the evening of Saturday 21 September, we'll play our new album (digitally released the following Monday) live in concert. Come join us for the occasion!

The concert will take place at Gribblehirst Community Hub in our very own neighborhood of Sandringham, Auckland. Space is limited to 65 people, so grab a ticket to come. Hope to see you there.

I Am

2024-06-21T00:00:00+12:00

Happy June Solstice, everyone, the longest night of the year down under and the start of winter! Shall we celebrate the darkness or the coming of the light? ¿Por qué no los dos?

Today we released a new song on our Music page for your listening pleasure. It's called "I Am" and sets to moody music John Clare's sonnet of the same title. Yes, that's real recorded rain to give you that damp-New-Zealand-winter feel.

Clare actually wrote two "I Am" poems, both in the 1840s when he was incarcerated in the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum. Both are excellent and can carry you to the threshold of Stillness. To cross it, simply inquire, "What am i before a thought comes to tell me?"

In other news, we're queueing up some Auckland shows for the coming months. Will update you with details in July.

And how goes our music distribution experiment, you ask? Spotify, iTunes, and all that? Well, since signing up with music distributor Tunecore last season, we've made a total of 3.28$ in music sales, all from streams. Not bad for an Unpop™ band, but will we hit our break-even target of 66$ = 31$ (Tunecore's annual fee) + 35$ (paperdragen.nz's annual fee) in nine months? Don't know. Does it matter much? Nah. That said, if you'd like to help color our ledger black, you can by buying one or more of our songs from our Music page for whatever you wish to pay. Alternatively, keep playing them on YouTube / iTunes / Tidal, but not on Spotify, the misers!

Into My Heart an Air That Kills

2024-03-22T00:00:00+13:00

Gadzooks, we missed the March Equinox on Wednesday! Time waits for no dragon, paper or otherwise. Welcome to autumn down under.

Much news for you. Today we released a new, seasonally appropriate song on our Music page. It's called "Into My Heart an Air That Kills" and sets to music A. E. Housman's short lyrical lament for lost youth. Check it out!

And earlier this week, in a long-overdue effort to extend our sonic reach, we finally distributed our albums to Spotify, Apple Music, and the full cornucopia of music streaming sites. We chose to abridge the albums, however, excluding songs of poems protected by copyright, lest we get sued. So no "Song of the Master and Boatswain", for example. But you can still listen to them on our Music page ;)

Lastly, on all those streaming sites mentioned, you can now find the works of our musical side projects too: Kate's band Byte Mi and Alex's solo project Loud Kisses.

Enjoy, and talk to you next time!

The Land of Lost Content as rendered by Muse AI

The Tyger

2023-12-22T00:00:00+13:00

Happy December Equinox, everyone, the astronomical start of summer down under, the season of beaches, baches, barbecues, and tomatoes, thirsty mosquitoes, and hopefully no floods!

As the seasons turn, we turn with them —art never dies— and release a new song today on our Music page. We call it "The Tyger" —wye's the old i— after William Blake's poem, whose original music got lost in time. Would Blake like ours? You bet! We hope you enjoy it too.

Copy A of Blake's original printing of The Tyger, 1794

Who's a cute tyger?

Crazy Jane on the Day of Judgement

2023-09-23T00:00:00+12:00

Welcome to Spring down under, all! Forget the years, forget distinctions! Leap into the boundless and make it your home! [*]

Paper Dragon is working on a new set of songs based on William Butler Yeats's book Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems (1932). And for a change, we video recorded one of the songs in progress for you, which you can watch on our Videos page. We hope you enjoy it!

[*]	Says Chuang Tzu

Those Dancing Days are Gone

2023-06-22T00:00:00+12:00

Happy June Solstice, everyone! It's the longest night of the year down under, and we're waiting for the light.

In the meantime, we present to you a new Paper Dragon song released today on our Music page. It's called "Those Dancing Days are Gone" and sets to music the following cryptic poem by one our favorite dead Williams.

Those Dancing Days are Gone
By William Butler Yeats, 1929

Come, let me sing into your ear;
Those dancing days are gone,
All that silk and satin gear;
Crouch upon a stone,
Wrapping that foul body up
In as foul a rag:
I carry the sun in a golden cup.
The moon in a silver bag.

Curse as you may I sing it through;
What matter if the knave
That the most could pleasure you,
The children that he gave,
Are somewhere sleeping like a top
Under a marble flag?
I carry the sun in a golden cup.
The moon in a silver bag.

I thought it out this very day.
Noon upon the clock,
A man may put pretence away
Who leans upon a stick,
May sing, and sing until he drop,
Whether to maid or hag:
I carry the sun in a golden cup,
The moon in a silver bag.

What does it mean? Is it seasonally appropriate? We have our hunches and doubts, but come, let us sing.

Soft Enchantress

2023-03-21T00:00:00+13:00

Happy March Equinox, everyone! Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana, but the cool air is killing them. The arrival of autumn calls for a song, no? We present to you "Soft Enchantress", released today on our Music page.

This is the first release for which Alex actually wrote the lyrics instead of stealing them from dead poets. It's based on the legend of Odysseus's visit to the island of Aeaea after the Trojan war and his stay there with the goddess Circe, who turns his crew into swine. We hope you enjoy it.

And for you guitarists who want to play along, we've included tablature for the song.

Lastly, if you're in Auckland 1 April, come to our concert!

"Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses" by John William Waterhouse

Tablature

2023-02-26T00:00:00+13:00

Greetings, Paper Dragon fans. No, it's not the beginning of another season, but we have news. Today we are releasing tablature for "What's Ours is Ours", our radio hit in a parallel universe. Now you can easily play along to the song on guitar and teach others too.

This is the first in a series of tablature files that we'll post on our Music page throughout the year. Every song with tablature will have a "tablature" link next to its track listing. Have a suggestion for what song we should tab next? Click the 'Comment' link below.

Green Grow the Rashes

2022-12-21T00:00:00+13:00

Happy December Solstice, everyone! Blazing barbecues, it's summer down under, though you mightn't guess it from all the rain that's fallen on Auckland this month. Nonetheless, this calls for a song. We present to you "Green Grow the Rashes", released today on our Music page.

We actually wrote this song a few years ago but only properly recorded and mixed it (in our DIY fashion) last spring. It sets to music Robert Burns's 1784 version of a traditional Scots song about two species of young men, the grave and the merry. We hope you enjoy it. And if you don't, then try this traditional version.

In other news, we recruited a sound engineer. Her name is Baby Beatrice, and she loves to turn the knobs.

Fern Hill

2022-09-23T00:00:00+12:00

Happy September Equinox, everyone! To celebrate the arrival of spring down under with its longer days and blooming hedges, we're releasing a new song. It's called "Fern Hill", and you can listen to it on our Music page. It's a melancholy song about lost youth, based on Dylan Thomas's poem of the same name, and fully seasonally inappropriate. We hope you enjoy it.

But wait, there's more! Alex's solo project Loud Kisses is releasing a new EP today too; see here.

So much spring music!

Miniver Cheevy

2022-06-21T00:00:00+12:00

Greetings, all! Winter begins, and New Zealand's sunsets glow in unusual hues of blue, purple, and violet. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research says it's because of increased aerosols ejected into the stratosphere from Tonga's volcanic eruption last January. We stare in awe. Then night falls, and we retreat to the garage from the cool, damp air to play songs.

Our newest one is called "Miniver Cheevy", and you can listen to it on our Music page. It's a danceable song whose lyrics we adapted from Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem of the same name about a man who spends his days sighing that he was born a few hundred years too late. Enjoy!

Solo Projects

2022-05-15T00:00:00+12:00

We have been working on two solo projects that are now ready for your ears' delight.

Kate: Stop Motion, a debut single featuring tender vocals and delicate soundscapes, available on all streaming platforms. Produced in a professional recording studio!
Alex: The Shropshire Songs, poems from A. E. Housman's lilting, lamentful, and generally black-humored collection A Shropshire Lad set to ukulele music. Produced in Alex's bedroom :)

Here's Kate's looking like a model to publicize her release.

I Carry Your Heart with Me

2022-03-21T00:00:00+13:00

The seasons march on, and lo, March Solstice returns. Happy astronomical fall to you all in the southern hemisphere, and happy spring to the rest of you!

What is Paper Dragon up to this season, you ask? We're working on a show for Prospect Palace, our favorite Mt Eden venue, and new songs. One of the latter is a setting of E. E. Cummings's poem "[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]". Would you like to hear it? We recorded a video of it, for a change, which you can watch on our Videos page. Enjoy!

Whatever a moon has always meant.

Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town

2021-12-22T00:00:00+13:00

Happy December Solstice, all! As the Earth's southern pole tilts maximally toward the Sun (23.44°) and the day lengthens to its fullest (14:41:37 hours in Auckland), we mark the arrival of summer down under and release a new song.

It's called "Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town" and sets to music E. E. Cummings's poem of the same name. You can listen to the song over and over on our Music page. We hope you enjoy it.

And with the end of another Auckland COVID-19 lockdown, we just might venture out from the basement to gig in public again. Stay tuned!

Album 2

2021-09-23T00:00:00+12:00

Happy September Equinox, everyone, and welcome to the new season, be it Spring (down South) or Fall (up North)! To ring it in, we of Paper Dragon bring you... ALBUM 2, our latest labor of love. You can read more about the cleverly named album, listen to it over and over again, and buy it, all on our Music page.

What are critics saying about Album 2?

"Hark, hark! Bow-wow" -William Shakespeare

"Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun. Now, after listening to Album 2, I may wither into the truth." -William Butler Yeats

"Best Mt Eden Unpop I've heard since Paper Dragon Album 1." -William Thorwaldson, music reviewer for the Mt Eden Gazette

To Know the Dark

2021-06-21T00:00:00+12:00

Happy June Solstice, all! It's the longest night of the year down under, and we're celebrating it with musical theatre down in the Dragon's Den tonight, then again on Friday. See some of you there, and to the others: catch you next season!

To Know the Dark
by Wendell Berry

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

2021-03-20T00:00:00+13:00

Happy March equinox, all! As the subsolar point appears to leave the Southern Hemisphere and cross the celestial equator, heading northward as seen from Earth, we mark the arrival of autumn down under and release a new song.

It's called "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" and sets to music several quatrains of Edward Fitzgerald's magnificent carpe diem poem of the same name, liberally translated from manuscripts attributed to the 11th century Persian polymath Omar Khayyam. You can listen to the song over and over on our Music page. We hope you enjoy it.

We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show;

Album 1

2020-12-21T00:00:00+13:00

Happy Summer Solstice, everyone! Today is an extra special occasion for us. After one year in the making, we hereby release our first album. Woot!

You can listen to (the cleverly named) Album 1 on our Music page over and over again all summer long. You can also download its tracks and artwork free of charge. Enjoy and share!

The music, recording, mixing, and artwork for Album 1 were lovingly and entirely home made by us, because we dig DIY and the gear required is cheap enough and small enough these days. That said, recording and mixing are deep arts we're newbs at, and you can spot the prints of our soft rude fingers across the album. But hey, that's OK. We're learning, and it's Unpop ;)

Thanks to all of you who encouraged us along the way!

If Everything Happens That Can't Be Done

2020-09-23T00:00:00+12:00

Happy Spring Equinox, everyone! In honor of the occassion, we've put down our gardening tools and released a new song on our Music page. It's called "If Everything Happens That Can't Be Done", and sets to music E. E. Cummings's seasonally appropriate poem of the same name. We hope you enjoy it along with a full twelve hours of daylight.

Down by the Salley Gardens

2020-06-21T00:00:00+12:00

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone! In honor of this longest night of the year, we've re-emerged from the basement and released a new song on our Music page. It's called "Down by the Salley Gardens" and is a little sad and wise. (Thank you, William Butler Yeats.) We hope you enjoy it, nestled near a fire, perhaps, and staring at the stars.

Happy Birthday 2

2020-05-02T00:00:00+12:00

Hello friends, hope you're faring well amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Posting to say we are unscathed and happy down under. Moreover, today's our second birthday. Hip hip hooray!

We don't have any new music for you, but we are busily washing our hands and recording our first album, to be released this year. Stay tuned. Stay well.

Videos Batch 2

2020-03-22T00:00:00+13:00

Q: Hey Paper Dragon, i see you're at it again, this time with a new batch of videos.

K: I like making videos, and people have asked us what goes on in the Dragon's Den.

A: I didn't think we could record live down there with our single mic and phone camera, but hey, not bad.

Q: Not bad at all. Is this part of a larger project?

K: No, but you never know.

Q: There's no telling what twists and turns life will take. What else did you get up this summer now gone?

A: Our friend Jesse, who filmed the videos, has been giving us skateboard lessons. I can kick turn now!

K: Me too! Almost.

Q: Daring. Any plans for the autumn?

A: Play on stage again.

Q: Really? I thought gigging was killing Kate.

K: Long story, but let me just say it started out benign enough, and then...

Q: And then?

A: Well, you'll have to come to the show to find out.

Q: See you there.

K: Actually, it got cancelled today because of COVID-19.

Q: Curse this pandemic!

Demos Batch 4 released

2019-12-22T00:00:00+13:00

Q: Paper Dragon, the seasons turn, and you turn with them. Tell us about your new Demos Batch 4.

A: Sure. You can find it hot off the electro-press on our Music page. It features cats and nymphs and shepherd's lies, millers wives and double suicides (possibly imagined). Oh, and our favorite half-diminished chord. All a bit fantastic, albeit short.

Q: Only three songs?

A: Yeah, with all our gigging in the past three months, we haven't spent much time in the recording studio.

K: He means his bedroom.

A: I mean my bedroom. Also we've been going to the beach.

Q: To record?

K: To relax.

A: And to fly.

K: And to fly.

Q: Kites?

K: Nope.

Q: How's the gigging going?

K: ...

A: ...

Q: Do you have any more shows on the horizon?

K: No! I mean, uh, I need to take a break and assess why I want to crawl into a hole and die during every show. Playing in a duo is a lot of pressure, and our last show at Thirsty Dog was the straw that broke the dragon's back.

Q: Sorry to hear that. Well, I hope you figure things out, Kate, and that you two return to the stage one day. Your demo recordings suggest something special, but I think the real magic happens at your shows.

K: Thanks for the encouragement, Quincey.

Q: You're welcome. All the best to you two, and happy Summer Solstice!

K & A: Happy Solstice!

Demos Batch 3 released

2019-09-23T00:00:00+12:00

Q: Band, congratulations on the release of Demos Batch 3, published on your Music page today, the Spring Equinox. I know it's not the season, but in honor of the occasion i baked you a pumpkin pie. [Offers pie]

A: Wow, thanks Quincey! I love pumpkin pie.

K: Me too!

A: [Eating] Mmm.

K: [Eating] So good.

Q: So tell me about this new batch of demos.

A: Well, it was going to be seven songs, but then we composted one to fertilize a future crop. That left us with six songs, which isn't prime.

K: We avoid composite numbers.

A: So we set one aside for later, which made a hearty batch of five.

Q: "Your Friends They May All be Dead" is a catchy song with a strange title. What's it about?

K: Well, the lyrics for the song first started out as random murmurs that kind of fit the melody, and then those random murmurs somehow evolved into the words "your friends they may all be dead." I was certain this was just placeholder text, but at some point I had sung those words so many times, I couldn't imagine it any other way. So then I had to figure out what the heck "your friends they may all be dead" meant, which wasn't too hard as I was going through a strange situation with some investors and feeling very unsupported, so the song became about that experience.

Q: "What Is Our Life?"—

A: What is our life?

Q: What a sad song! How did it arise?

A: The beginning riff and melody came to me first, then i needed some haunting words to accompany them. So i searched my high school poetry book and found the poem by Sir Walter Raleigh, which i tried using on another occasion to no avail. This time it was a perfect fit, and when i wrote the ending melody, tears pooled in my eyes. So sad and sweet. I don't believe the poem, but i sympathize with its sentiment.

Q: This question comes from my flatmate, who is a fan.

K: Another fan?!

Q: Are roller coasters still fun for you?

K: I haven't ridden a roller coaster in decades, but they are still very fun in my mind.

A: I don't know. I think i'd get dizzy on one these days.

Demos Batch 2 released

2019-06-22T00:00:00+12:00

Today is the Winter Solstice down under, the longest night of the year. To celebrate, we're publishing a new batch of homemade demos, then sleeping extra. Syncing our releases with the changing seasons seems natural. You can find this batch, along with the previous one, on our Music page. Enjoy!

Questions?

Q: What does your music mean to you?

K: It means a chance to get out of the house and interact with other humans, make loud noises, and share a tiny piece of my soul.

A: My best song ideas come from the other side, from a timeless realm of wonder and delight. They're echoes from the other side, saying without words, "Read the hints. Come at last."

Q: Is there a hidden meaning in any of your music?

K: Yes.

Q: ...

K: ...

A: ...

Q: Tell us about your next gig.

K: We're playing at the Portland Public House in Kingsland on 8 August. We'll be appearing as a duo, a trio, and possibly a quartet all in one hour long set!

A: Leaving the Mt Eden nest.

Q: Exciting. This next question comes from my seven-year-old niece, who is a fan.

K: Aw, that's cute.

Q: Would you rather kiss a boy or a frog?

A: Pass.

K: Depends if I am in princess mode or not.

Q: Are you two a couple?

[Simultaneously]

A: Yes.

K: No.

Demos Batch 1 released

2019-05-02T00:00:00+12:00

Today Kate and i celebrate Paper Dragon's birthday number one. Hip hip hooray! Over the past year we have written thirty-nine songs, played two open mic sessions and two garden parties, grown from two members to three to four to three to two, and spent approximately one hundred fifty hours practicing in my basement, bumping our heads on its low beams.

In honor of this momentous occasion, we are dining on dumplings and, more relevant to you, dear reader, publishing our first batch of homemade demo recordings. You can find them on our Music page for your listening (with headphones) pleasure. Enjoy and share!

Questions?

Q: You describe your music as Mt Eden unpop.

A: Unpop™

Q: Yes, what do you mean by that?

A: I don't know exactly, especially since we have eleven fans now. Eclectic? Our songs mix bits of pop, rock, folk, Afrobeat, and Latin in characteristic Mt Eden style.

Q: You set a lot of poems to music. Why is that?

K: Alex's lyrical genius is dumb, so he steals words from dead poets.

A: True, and Kate writes all her own lyrics. That's why she's so slow making songs :-)

Q: What have you learned from this band?

K: That putting yourself out there is scary, but also, people will still like you if you play a wrong note, or forget the words, or even train wreck to the point where you have to stop playing entirely.

A: To sing better and in public. It's not terrible. In fact, i like it. But whenever i start to feel like i'm putting on a show, i try to return to stillness, the source of authentic performance. It feels better that way, and i think people respond best to that mode of play.

Q: What does the future hold for Paper Dragon?

A: Our crystal ball is cloudy, but we are preparing another show, this time with Kate on drums. After that, tour the entirety of Mt Eden? Then onto Kingsland? I have a connection in Kingsland.

K: I don't count as a connection.

A: Hmm, maybe Mt Albert then.