Pitchfork

Nearly every silver lining has a cloud on Paper Anniversary, the third album by Winnipeg, Manitoba singer/songwriter Christine Fellows. Its most cheerful song is its title track, which takes barely over a minute to celebrate love's quirks and acknowledge the ongoing learning process essential to even the most successful romantic relationships. Fellows' lyrics resemble the compact narratives of the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, who happens to be her latest tourmate, or the Weakerthans' John K. Samson, who happens to be her husband. Her eccentric-but-conversational voice and staccato, slightly detuned piano help give the song a clinky homemade charm. "Whenever I wanna really wallow in sadness, I play Paper Anniversary and open up the fucking floodgates," Darnielle wrote recently on his blog's message board. Maybe so, but Fellows ends this one with a ray of cautious optimism: "There's no better time than the second time of anything/ With you."