Paris Texas – ‘Mid Air’ review: thrilling debut from rap’s most intriguing duo

20 July, 2023

Paris texas

In a way, it has always felt like Paris Texas versus the world. When the Californian duo, otherwise known as producer Louie Pastel and rapper Felix, emerged in February 2021 with their impactful breakthrough single ‘Heavy Metal’ – a firecracker of a track that recalled the epic urgency and swagger of Brockhampton’s ‘Saturation I’ – they became an internet sensation, enjoying viral ubiquity on Twitter. “[The song] definitely took everybody by storm; hit them over the head. I didn’t know it was gonna happen,” Felix told NME nine months later.

READ MORE: Paris Texas at Governors Ball 2022: “We just want to make shit that we think is tight”

Yet rather than bask in the hype, Pastel and Felix soon recoiled from it: interviews and social media posts were kept to a minimum, allowing a mythology surrounding Paris Texas and their backstory to materialise. Listening to their debut album ‘Mid Air’ two years on, it’s tempting to say not much has changed. Its 16 tracks are equally propulsive and elusive, yet reveal little about the pair beyond that their creative relationship is largely focused on making a scuzzy, purposefully disjointed sound of their own.

The fast and loose nature of ‘Mid Air’ is accentuated by the rumbling beats of ‘Bullet Man’ or the warped vocals that stir ‘Closed Caption’ into action. In places, however, the arrangements can feel a little too clean; on tracks like ‘Nüwhip’ and ‘Earth-2’, Paris Texas nod to the energy of their heavier rock and punk influences without ever fully committing to laying down a lengthy, jagged riff or switching up Felix’s delivery. The inspiration is lost when they occasionally choose to coat songs in a layer of gloss.

Still, there’s a sense of real curiosity across the record. On Teezo Touchdown team-up ‘Full English’, Felix manages to namedrop Nando’s, Harry Potter, Tesco, King Krule and baked beans in the space of 30 seconds, as he relishes in the song’s increasing absurdity. Where much of ‘Mid Air’ concentrates on weightier themes of paranoia (‘Everybody’s Safe Until…’) and malaise (‘tenTHIRTYseven’), this moment of lightness feels especially invigorating. It’s also proof, perhaps, that Paris Texas aren’t yet completely overwhelmed by the burdens of audience expectation.

That’s the energy throughout ‘Mid Air’, which as a record, feels truly – and brilliantly – emblematic of the sharp, controlled chaos that Paris Texas have honed over a handful of previous EPs. You only need to turn to closer ‘We Fall’; with confessional writing that veers into emo territory, its verses allude to both childhood dreams and the scale of the duo’s ambition – without ever going into specifics. Another point for mystique, then.