Welsh duo Paper Aeroplanes blew The Yorkshire Times away last year with their undeniably beautiful single 'Multiple Love', which topped our poll of Singles of 2012, so we were obviously more than a little excited at the news of the long-awaited third album 'Little Letters' seeing the light of day. With so much to find out about the release, and also Paper Aeroplanes current and future plans, we decided to have a quick chat with the lovely duo and find out more...



How do you feel Paper Aeroplanes have grown in the four years since you officially formed?

We've grown in confidence and in our sense of possibilities. Having some great audiences on our last few tours makes us realise we can carry on doing this for a long time. It feels pretty freeing when we're writing and recording.

Awareness of the band grows with each release, how has that effected your creative process?

We've always made the music we wanted to make so it only encourages us in our writing. We don't write for our audience but I think we've found an amazingly loyal fanbase who seem to want just the same music as we do and come with us as we change and find new sounds. This album is the one I'm happiest with by far...musically and lyrically ...and judging by the response, our fans feel the same.

Little Letters is your third album release - what did you learn from the first two?

We always learn lots about the recording process when we make an album. We sometimes decide to do a few things differently but those are usually recording or release based things rather than musical. I think it's more about progression with each record.

We are Ghosts was really acoustic and quite light and for that reason we wanted to make more noise with this album and give ourselves more scope and options with the production.

How do your ambitions for Little Letters differ from your first two releases?

Our ambitions are always the same: Make music that means something to us and get it heard by lots of people.

For those still getting to know your sound, how would you define Paper Aeroplanes?

We've been called Alternative Pop, Emo Folk, Dream Folk. Our music is for people who don't need to know the genre in order to listen to a band.

If you had to pinpoint one song from your back catalogue as defining Paper Aeroplanes, which would it be and why?

I'd say Same Mistakes...although if we're including the new album it would be Circus.

Which song do you suggest as an introduction to Little Letters?

I'd say either Circus or Little Letters itself.



Which song do you most enjoy playing live?

Probably Little Letters. This changes over the months and tours though.

Do you prefer recording or performing?

Me personally I prefer performing. It's the reason I got into music at all.

How do you have to adapt your sound for a live set?

When we do duo gigs we obviously strip back the sound quite a lot for some of the songs. Some are written and recorded like that anyway. Our drummer and double bassist are awesome musicians who also play with a few other big acts so they can execute our songs to an amazing standard. They both played on this new record so that helps. It all becomes more raw and visceral I think.

What is next for Paper Aeroplanes?

Watch this space!

'Little Letters' is out now.