A Comfortable Sleep

Prior to this project, Sarah Howells and Richard Llewellyn were half of indie rock quartet Jylt. That band had just signed to a label that was grooming it for mainstream success when 21-year-old singer Nia George passed away from leukemia. And although Paper Aeroplanes don’t claim that A Comfortable Sleep is an homage to their fallen friend, it’s obvious that George still has a profound effect on their music seven years after her untimely passing. Over acoustic guitar strumming and tasteful string arrangements, “Tuesday” opens with Howells softly singing “On a Tuesday morning in July / I was bright and breezy not willing to die.” Echoes of The Sundays resonate in “All You Need” before Llewellyn’s hushed harmony vocals come in and give the song its own character. A foreboding guitar-string trill sets the tone on “Painkiller”: a gorgeous serenade of endless love and friendship where Howells’ vocals balance emotional urgency with restraint. “Winter Never Comes” closes, with the hardest pull on the heartstrings.