Every so often I stumble upon a book or a film or new music through what is often a throwaway remark by a friend or an acquaintance. Either their comment or the premise or name of whatever it is simply piques my interest and I make a note of it or, and this is far more likely, I stop what I’m doing right there and then to look it up. So it was that a chance remark by someone I follow on Twitter led me to check out the music of Paper Aeroplanes on their MySpace page. He’d come back from one of their gigs in Islington, was raving about it and had had the CD on constant play ever since getting back home. An hour later and I was still on MySpace, having played through all the tracks a number of times and I, too, had ordered the CD. That was Friday (February 26th) and it arrived the following Tuesday (March 2nd).

This Friday just gone (March 6th), I’d booked to go out to an informal meet-up for CardiffGirlGeek at 10Feet Tall in Cardiff and, in one of those happy cosmic alignments that make me feel all warm and fuzzy and generally content with my lot in life, who should be playing that night but Paper Aeroplanes? I know this isn’t the case at all but it’s at times like this that I could almost believe that there are certain people you’re supposed (destined) to meet at certain times in your life, or certain events that you are fated to attend.

The Paper Aeroplanes I saw at 10Feet Tall were a two-piece: Sarah Howells and Richard Llewellyn, both from Pembrokeshire. There are other band members, they just weren’t at the gig I went to. I’m guessing because it was a small venue. Their sound is alternative acoustic pop music and it is beautiful, uplifting and anything but throwaway pop. The lyrics are wonderful, poetic at times, and the sound is distinctive. If your spirits aren’t lifted by Sarah’s beautifully pure vocals and you don’t feel the urge to bop just a little, then you have no soul and there is little hope for you. Give them a listen, or several. They are well worth checking out and even better, if you get the chance, go see them live. They are as good live as they are on their CD and there aren’t so many bands you can honestly say that about.

Take off with Paper Aeroplanes on Myspace and Facebook or you can Follow Sarah on Twitter.