Review Summary: Backed by jazz group BadBadNotGood, Jerry Paper delivers a relaxing and catchy concept album about the lives of anthropomorphic young adult animals.
With the advent of shows, such as Bojack Horseman and Tuca & Bertie, the 2010s have taken the concept of the funny animal (that is, an animal cartoon character who behaves mostly like a human,) to the adult audience in a new direction. Whether it be exploring their trauma, addictions, or their day to day struggles, this media seems to value drama no less than it does comedy -a far cry from Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob SquarePants, and even Brian Griffin. Jerry Paper takes this concept, strips even more of the comedy away, and uses this theme as a coat of paint for his album about the human condition.
To be frank, the anthropomorphic animal aspect of the album is only surface level. Story-wise, it doesn’t really matter that Ruth is a bear or Lamar is a llama. In fact, on “Gracie II,” the facade is dropped completely to bring forth a straightforward love song. At best, the animal element flavors the lyrics with more interesting words. “The donkey in the band; She don’t understand although she’s seen it first hand” vs “The girl in the band; She don’t understand although she’s seen it first hand.” Sure, there are occasional references to the animals doing animal things, such as Benny wishing Mike (a Cobra) would bite him (potentially a euphemism for a kiss,) but they are few and far between.
Lyrically, themes of overcoming damaging mindsets are common on Toon Time Raw! and Jerry Paper’s insights are often fascinating. “Ginger & Ruth” details the opposing mindsets of a lesbian couple living in New York City. Ginger’s anxiety and rigidity, juxtaposed with Ruth’s calmness and freethinking, paints a tale of how worldliness and spirituality affect our worldview. “Kill the Dream” has various characters distracting themselves from the here and now with anything then can. Benny wants a new brain implant, Ginger is immersing herself in the world of the novel she’s reading, and Jumbo Ron is obsessing over a past event. Speaking of Jumbo Ron, his titular song is about how he is constantly in his own head, and how unhealthy it is. Some may see Jerry Paper’s thoughts as pretentious pop psychology, and they probably are, but his intentions are to make his characters relatable, not to show how deep he is.
Jerry Paper likes to tag all of his albums “11th dimension pop” on Bandcamp, but they’re usually just electronic psychedelic pop bordering on elevator music -so hypnagogic pop, with a bigger focus on 60s nostalgia than 80s. With the addition of BadBadNotGood on backups, Toon Time Raw! adds smooth jazz to the mix, and on “Elastic Last Act,” it’s bossa nova. On paper, this album sounds like it’d musically be a snoozefest, but it certainly isn’t. The laid back overall atmosphere doesn’t stop BadBadNotGood from adding fun drum fills and saxophone solos on various songs. Despite how specific and relaxed the genre and tone is, the melodies and tempos are incredibly varied and catchy.
Cynically viewed, Toon Time Raw! is a bland muzak album with pompous lyrics about the thoughts of furries. If you look one layer deeper, it’s an album that uses relatable cartoon animals and sets it in a world of spacey nostalgia. Not every song on here hits as perfectly as the earworm “Ginger & Ruth,” but enough do, where this album is worth many revisits.
Album highlights: “Ginger & Ruth”, “Kill the Dream”, “Elastic Last Act”, “Jumbo Ron”
