Paper Aeroplanes

Paper Aeroplanes is a Welsh indie folk and alt-pop group from Milford Haven, United Kingdom. The duo consists of Sarah Howells and Richard Llewellyn, who perform together from 2005 and form the band in 2009. Howells is from Ceredigion and Llewellyn from Pembrokeshire.

Background

Before Paper Aeroplanes, Llewellyn performs in the Cardiff-based band Halflight and is also a former member of Cartoon. Howells is previously part of the rock and riot grrrl band Jylt. At the end of 2008, the pair join the Autonomy Music Group and begin working as a duo in earnest.

Recordings and releases

In January 2009, the band works with John Reynolds, whose credits include Sinéad O'Connor and Andrea Corr, on two singles taken from their first album, The Day We Ran Into the Sea, which appears in 2010. BBC Radio Wales describes the album as the finest radio album to come out of Wales since Rockferry, while the BBC's Adam Walton calls it pop music crafted from a bruised heart. The band also appears on Bob Harris's BBC Radio 2 programme, where it is interviewed and performs a live session, and it records a live video session for the BBC.

Paper Aeroplanes follows with We Are Ghosts in 2011. Before that release, the group uses local independent coffee shops to publicise its music, producing a limited-edition four-track CD that is given away at 12 of its favourite cafés in exchange for the purchase of food at the venue. Little Letters appears on Navigator Records in 2013 and receives critical attention, with radio play on BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music from Dermot O'Leary, Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson. The album JOY is released in 2015.

Style and comparisons

The band is described by the BBC as a west coast, easy-riding folkish indie act with a pop sensibility, and by The Guardian as making disarming, breezy pop tinged with melancholy. Their music is compared with Fleetwood Mac, Suzanne Vega, The Sundays, The Civil Wars and Laura Marling.

Later activity

After releasing four albums and touring, including a sold-out show at London's Union Chapel, the group announces a separation to focus on solo projects in 2017. Howells continues to tour as a solo artist under the name Bryde.