Winnipeg's winter months leave city-dwellers with nothing to do but hunker down and make great music.

At least that's what Allison Shevernoha, Paper Moon's zesty pop vocalist, says as she talks about the band's upcoming CD-release party.

Only During Thunderstorms is Paper Moon's third full-length album, one that sees the band moving away from its usual pessimistic rhymes and dipping its toes in the positive-lyric pool.

"Winnipeg bands get inspired by other Winnipeg bands," says Shevernoha of locals such as The Weakerthans and Greg Macpherson. "The lyrical pressure in Winnipeg is huge whereas other places in Canada, like Toronto, it's more about image."

Shevernoha and PM drummer Chris Hiebert, both in their mid-30s, were married last fall and they say their nuptial bliss was the inspiration for a lot of the love songs on the new album.

"I always see on TV the guy writing romantic songs, so I wanted to make someone feel special," she says. "I thought of What Are You Going to Do With Me while I was at work and I raced home to play it for Chris. He got choked up when I was done."

"(We're) the result of two good friends being there for each other during some extremely sad and difficult times in both of our lives," says Hiebert of their relationship.

"Being in a band for a long period of time, and especially touring, can really turn a group of friends into a family. It's inevitable."

Paper Moon has had a broad range of family members. The band has had many different contributors over the years since it formed from the ashes of '90s Winnipeg bands B'ehl and The Bonaduces.

"We're getting older, and a lot of us are starting families and owning homes so it's getting harder to stick together and just pick it all up and tour," says Shevernoha of the band's attempt to juggle schedules.

Everyone in Paper Moon has a full-time job. Shevernoha is an interior designer. Hiebert and bassist Ken Phillips work at MTS, keyboardist/singer Nikki Taylor is at the Reh-Fit centre and guitarist John Wilson is a grain inspector. Given that they have adult lives to live, Hiebert and Shevernoha say the reason they keep the band going is that, primarily, it's fun.

"When you've been working at music for this long and are getting more and more jaded and cynical, you need to have fun in order to keep going," Hiebert says.

"If it isn't fun, why keep doing it? As far as the music goes, we just try to write songs that we enjoy and that we'll continue to enjoy after playing it for the hundredth time."

The lyrical content of Only During Thunderstorms is far more positive than that of 2006's Broken Hearts Break Faster Every Day, which was essentially Shevernoha's breakup record. "I made a conscious effort to write more positive songs," she says. "I think I accomplished it, and it worked for three songs, but it's just easier to write sad songs."

Shevernoha's airy voice and the bubbly harmonies on the album make it hard to imagine that Paper Moon could write negative songs, but a peek at the liner notes makes the lyrics instantly bittersweet.

"Our last album was fairly smooth and sophisticated, whereas this one has a bit more shimmer and energy," Hiebert says. "It's still quite accessible and lyrically it deals with very relatable subjects, and the music is still as poppy and harmony-laden as always, but we tried to just mess it up a little bit."

PAPER MOON
May 1, Pyramid Cabaret
w/ The Liptonians