Exclusive premiere of the title track by Paper Idol, taken from the album, ‘The Playground,’ out today.

This year, electro-pop artist Paper Idol (Matan KG) is set to release his most ambitious project to date: ‘The Playground’ (due November 18). The LP will chronicle eight stages of childhood in eight tracks, from the days of sidewalk hopscotch to teenage nihilism and everything in between. The music was produced in both the United States and Israel, the two countries in which Matan spent his formative years. In an attempt to keep the tracks raw and authentic, Matan wrote, produced, and mixed all the tracks himself in collaboration with his bandmate Adam Rochelle. The album artwork was created by Matan as well, which pulls inspiration from minimalism and analogue collage to create surreal playgrounds out of notebook paper.

As Matan wrote of his newest project: “Each song on ‘The Playground’ represents a different phase of my childhood. It starts with me as a carefree kid playing outside, then moves through the emotional turbulence of highschool, finally reaching young adulthood. I often tell people it’s like Boyhood the album! I recorded the album in all three places I’ve lived – Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Tel Aviv – which influenced the album sonically and gave me a deeper connection to the lyrics. Honestly, the whole process was kind of like therapy. It was a process of sorting out my best and worst memories growing up, and trying to make something beautiful from it.”

To celebrate the LP drop, today, Paper Idol also shares the record’s focus track, ‘The Playground.’

Matan continued: “‘The Playground’ is about missing the purity of childhood. It’s so easy to get caught up in status, envy, comparing yourself to others… there was a time when we were just “being,” soaking up the world around us with no ego. Me and my bandmate Adam tried so many different ideas for the chorus that didn’t work. Then the idea of a vintage children’s choir came up – perfect! I got in touch with The West Los Angeles Children’s Choir and they totally nailed it. This was during the pandemic, so we had zoom rehearsals and each child recorded his part at home. It was such a fun experience taking those records and fitting them into the record.”

Headline photo: Photo by Sydney Lolli, Styled by Maayan Loven

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