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Probably this is a reaction leftover from my childhood years, when after brushing my teeth I rinsed out my mouth with water imbibed from a certain papery/waxy vessel, but my first association when I heard the name A Paper Cup Band was: Dixie.

And certainly there's an underlying twang Detroit Vs. Farming, A Paper Cup Band's new album, which will be officially released tomorrow at the Hexagon Bar. But there are a lot of other sounds going on, too. On their MySpace page they list their genre as Folk/Breakbeat/Punk, and that amalgamation is precise as anything I could come up with on my own. (It also says the music sounds like "two guys kissing.")

So while songs like "Drunks and Poets" are fairly folksy old-school, with syncopated rhythms and lyrics about loss of love, one can't help but notice that the acoustic guitars at the beginning of the track have turned electric by the end. Lyrics about loss of love - APCB nails it down pretty hard with incisive originality. Check this out: "If I would've known he would take you away/I'd put mortar in your shoes and I'd punch you in the face." Yeah, it might seem harsh, but isn't it kind of a true sentiment, too?

Meanwhile APCB clearly is not afraid of blowing fuses. "Dead Woman Country" is a computer-y ballad, with static-heavy vocals and fuzzy guitar distortion (though certainly retaining a country aesthetic, somehow). Most of the songs assume a perfect balance between the future (electric) and the past (acoustic). The simplicity persists, so no track is overwhelmed by noise for noise's sake. But every once in a while there will be a lengthy blast of synthesized organ. Or, as on "The Passion/Bitters" (my favorite track), they'll throw in a prolonged silence that allows one to notice just how many sounds have been swirling.

Unifying the songs are Andrew Jensen's lyrics. Somewhat Beck-like in content, the stanzas are full of clever non-sequiturs. Some fall a bit flat - I still can't figure out what "Chicago has the tightest pants" is actually supposed to mean, and in what context - but I'm willing to swallow most of the lines, as they come bottled (cupped?) in upbeat, toe-tap riffs. Maybe the best testimony to the allure of these songs: I had a High Fidelity moment with my roommate when I was playing Detroit vs. Farming in our house.

He'd just come in from outside and was still wearing his winter jacket.
"What is this?" he asked.
"A Paper Cup Band," I said.
He nodded his head a couple times and listened quietly for a minute.
"It's good," he said.
"I know."

Check out A Paper Cup Band at The Hexagon Bar tomorrow, January 9th, at 9pm.
2600 27th Ave S/Minneapolis, MN/55406