Paper Lady – Joe Modern

Boston’s ethereal indie band Paper Lady returns with its third single, “Joe Modern,” out Friday, April 11, alongside an original music video written and directed by guitarist Rowan Martin.

The single is the final preview ahead of the band’s debut full-length album Idle Fate, arriving May 9.

A thematic outlier on the record, “Joe Modern” pulls from real-life absurdity: a scamming realtor who inspired the band’s most kinetic track to date. What began as a joke became a tightly wound post-punk anthem that retains Paper Lady’s signature dreamy textures while veering confidently into new territory.

“We kept joking that we should write a song about this guy – and then Rowan brought this wild guitar riff to rehearsal, and the rest just fell into place,” shares vocalist Alli Raina. “The lyrics came to me instantly. It’s the most fun song to play live, and I think it helped us evolve our sound in a huge way.”

Produced by Harley Spring and Abbey Franz of Digital Awareness, the video blends the surreal and the sinister, following a haunted businessman through dreamlike torment at the hands of his boss and a sleep paralysis demon.

With the full-length album on the horizon, “Joe Modern” marks a shift in the band’s sonic palette – bringing in post-punk influences like Kleenex, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Model/Actriz – while amplifying their fantastical storytelling and emotional edge.

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