Cloquet is a new group formed between Doomtree producer Paper Tiger and New York vocalist J. Gundersen. Together they’ve come together to make a debut self-titled album that marks a distinctly different project from anything else Paper Tiger has done.

Over the course of his career, Paper Tiger has covered a lot of ground, whether it be as a solo artist or as part of Doomtree. He’s given us some bangers, but he’s also given us some instrumental down tempo, some experimental electronic music, and some music that moved into more of a house direction. When he paired up with J. Gundersen, though, he moved all the way into the house of synth-pop, heavy emphasis on the pop. J. Gundersen has a great gentle delivery on the mic, reminiscent of Thomas Mars of Phoenix, with a very nice and clean tone as he sings. In working with Paper Tiger, the two have crafted an album full of pop songs with no filler. It’s everything you want in a pop album, with infectious bass lines, rhythms that while have bobbing your head, and hooks that are easy to sing along to as you work your way through lyrics about heartbreak and other emotions. In total, it’s an album that would have had a lot of contemporaries back in the early 2000s, when they easily could have toured with acts like Postal Service or The Faint.

Paper Tiger has given us a pretty varied and interesting discography over the course of his career, and his work with Cloquet is another successful part of his career. He and J. Gundersen have great chemistry together, and they’ve made a pop album as a duo that sounds effortless and infectious. It’s not hip hop, but it’s certainly good.