Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

How Novel

Taking cues from the likes of Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens, Chicago’s Paper Thick Walls deal in a moody brand of ornate indie folk that is in turns deeply intimate and wildly expansive. Their debut album, A Thousand Novels — engineered by Wilco cohort Mike Hagler — is a stirring, lyric exposition of that seeming dichotomy, and is rapidly winning over fans on music blogs across the country. This week, the band makes two Vermont stops: Wednesday, October 19, at the Black Door in Montpelier — a homecoming for bassist and Montpeculiar native, Roger Sherman — and Thursday, October 20 at the Monkey House in Winooski with Small Houses and the Jon Gilmore Band.