Paper Knees
is a three-piece indie band from Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. Matt Hurley (left handed) is the primary song-writer and a vocalist and guitarist. Jen England (right handed) sings, writes lyrics, and plays guitar. Mike Greene (also right handed) plays drums.
Paper Knees performs original songs about continental drift, memory, bioluminescence, and drowning. They occupy an orientation in space between indie rock, dream pop, and shoegaze.
Immanuel Kant argues, in his Critique of Pure Reason (1781), that space cannot be reduced to spatial relations. Instead, space must be thought to be a “unity” which, in and of itself, has its own characteristic properties.
Nerlich (1976) follows from Kant with an argument that our right and left hands cannot be described as different by describing the relationships between parts of the hands. Instead, we must account for and describe how the hand is “inserted” into space. He states: “My left hand is profoundly like but also profoundly unlike my right hand.” In other words, the left hand cannot occupy the same space as the right, but a reflection of the right hand can.
As a tool to visualize the problem, Nerlich uses simple shapes he calls “knees”. Paper knees, are “knees” (simple shapes) made of paper, which can be used to model this problem of special orientation. Except for a Möbius strip, which is has one side and is shaped like the infinity symbol, tracing shapes over paper knees to the other side will show us that we cannot use the terms “left” and “right” to make a distinction about handedness without understanding how those knees actually fit into space.
Paper Knees’ influences include Yo La Tengo, Seely, My Bloody Valentine, Billy Bragg and Wilco, Land of Talk, New Zealand’s Phoenix Foundation, and R.E.M.
Likely the most educated and possibly the nerdiest of bands on the Denver scene, Hurley and England play guitar by occupying space as mirror images on stage. Greene acts as a Möbius strip, supplying beats to allow a right knee to move along its surface to become a left knee.
Paper Knees has recorded its debut EP – “Pinniped” – which will be released during the summer of 2018. The band has recently played shows at Denver, Colorado’s Lost Lake on Colfax Avenue, The Bicycle Café, and Tooey’s Off Colfax.
Matt Hurley
Gretsch Anniversary Jr; Fender Telecaster; Crowther hotcake and Dr Z Maz Jr.
Jen England
Epiphone Sheraton guitar, Boss Overdrive pedal, and Fender Blues Jr amp with lots of reverb.
Mike Green
Gretsch Catalina Club 4-piece drum kit. Zildjian cymbals, and Akai MPX8 sample player.