The Beauty of Imperfections. Review of the album The Stories of the Paper Planets by Dionisaf

Listen to the album on Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music

This is a gently beautiful album which feels somewhat like a scrapbook of feelings and moments, assembled in a very personal way, almost as if we are witnessing the thoughts and reflections of someone caught in a memory moment.

Sonically a collage of snippets and rustling loops with drifting guitar notes, as an entire experience the album maintains a very particular poise which makes for a rewardingly consistent listen. You immediately know where you are with this one, but don’t think that’s all there is to it: the joy is in the detail, so grab those headphones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HVuSYv05a8

A key feature of several tracks is the use of voice. Dislocated dialogue permeates throughout, lending an air of reminiscence akin to documentary footage or dictaphone notes. Set back in the mix and especially well selected, they evoke that situation when someone is talking but you have drifted off into your own thoughts. There is a delight and serenity in the effect, where what is being said is not readily discernible but the tone and feel of their words permeates.

Subtly hovering chords underlay the tracks like a wash and here Dionisaf exercises great restraint, allowing their presence to work behind other sounds without imposing or sentimentalizing too heavily. They add to the unhurried, laconic atmosphere wonderfully. At times I really do feel like I am very slowly floating down a river in a small comfortable boat on a sunny afternoon.

The Stories of Paper Planets on vinyl and CD

Between the album’s perfectly angled title and its cover art is an entrance to the real completeness of it. Whether you feel the tracks are separate stories or one whole, the flavor is sustained through the 8 main tracks and then incredibly well interpreted in the final two which are remixes by long-standing label mates, Logic Moon and KapTep.

In the album notes, Dionisaf makes a number of points about the sounds which I have to wholeheartedly agree with; in particular that they ‘…celebrate the fragile, analog uniqueness of things touched by human hands.’ Also, the beauty of ‘imperfections’, like articles torn from a newspaper where there is no attempt to tidy up the edges, the roughness testifying to a careless authenticity. 

Amidst all these disparate ingredients, something delicate and lovely is being communicated here.

Reviewed by T. Čelet / Gray Clay Radio

May 2026 Artworks by Dionis Afonichev (Dionisaf)