It is hard to fully comprehend how music with such a grandiose sound could be made in a garage in north-west Sydney. Yet Parades have managed to create an album in Foreign Tapes that is so expansive and ambitious, you’d be a fool not to think this was made somewhere in Europe during a cold winter (alas Sigur Ros). The Sydney 4-piece, supported by a large group of backing musicians, have proved with this album that no matter how the music is made, the motives behind it can still manage to produce something quite extraordinary.
Self-produced by indie sensation Jonathan Boulet (who is also the band’s drummer), Foreign Tapes shows it’s raw, youthful edge right from the first track. Dead Nationale’s fast beat and unrefined guitar hooks, that almost sound like classic rock riffs, open the album in a style that harks back to the early Bloc Party releases. The lyrics in this song though certainly make it a unique track in its own right, with the use of chants throughout the early parts of the song setting the scene for much of the rest of the album.
Tracks Hunters and Past Lives follow in much the same way as the opener, with uplifting, joyous moments that fearlessly show the band’s exuberance and willingness for exploration through their music. Many of the songs on Foreign Tapes show Parades’ knack for being able to produce songs with driving synth lines, repetitive drum beats, and group chants, complemented by lyrics that are optimistic and emotive in content. Marigold follows on with this formula, with the introduction of a brass section adding emphasis to the band’s harmonious sound, while singers Daniel Cunningham and Rebecca Shave jointly repeat the line “happiness, is a new idea, don’t forget the rest of us, it’s an exodus” throughout much of the song. This makes the track feel as though they are singing with you, bringing you along on their journey of escapism.
Amongst the fast-paced indie rock moments throughout Foreign Tapes, Parades provide the listener with some quite majestic tracks on this long-player. The synth-laden Invaders (Review) and down-tempo Lung Full Of Light show the band’s ability to move from one style of music to another whilst keeping their unique uplifting post-rock style intact. Shave’s vocals on the latter bring to life a story about a life beneath the ocean, with Boulet proving he is no dummy behind the skins. However the album’s centerpiece is most definitely Loserspeak In New Tongue. This track dares to be different from the start, with scratchy-sounding vocals leading into group chants which build into a wall of sound, evoking images of bursting life and explosions of colour. The song ebbs and flows throughout, showing the band’s deeper, darker, more thoughtful elements, with the mix of keys, guitars and vocals sounding almost jazz-like in part. The lyrics also manage to make this track feel like the expression of youth that it is, with Cunningham singing of adolescent apprehension to great effect (“lift your head you are young, don’t go cutting at your tongue”).
The album closer, Vulturehood, only leaves you wanting more from this band, with the slow acoustic fadeout transformed towards the end of the track by the same edgy guitar sound that Parades are not afraid to exert throughout much of Foreign Tapes. It is easy to see through many elements of the group’s sound that their indie contemporaries, namely bands such as Sigur Ros, Bloc Party, and Radiohead have all influenced the making of this album in some way. However, Parades almost create their own style of visual post-rock with their debut effort, and it is hard to compare the band’s sound to any other collective going around. With ambition, expression, and youth on their side, Parades have certainly put their hand up for Australian album of the year early in 2010, while delivering one of the more impressive debut albums from any Australian band in quite some time.
Self-produced by indie sensation Jonathan Boulet (who is also the band’s drummer), Foreign Tapes shows it’s raw, youthful edge right from the first track. Dead Nationale’s fast beat and unrefined guitar hooks, that almost sound like classic rock riffs, open the album in a style that harks back to the early Bloc Party releases. The lyrics in this song though certainly make it a unique track in its own right, with the use of chants throughout the early parts of the song setting the scene for much of the rest of the album.
Tracks Hunters and Past Lives follow in much the same way as the opener, with uplifting, joyous moments that fearlessly show the band’s exuberance and willingness for exploration through their music. Many of the songs on Foreign Tapes show Parades’ knack for being able to produce songs with driving synth lines, repetitive drum beats, and group chants, complemented by lyrics that are optimistic and emotive in content. Marigold follows on with this formula, with the introduction of a brass section adding emphasis to the band’s harmonious sound, while singers Daniel Cunningham and Rebecca Shave jointly repeat the line “happiness, is a new idea, don’t forget the rest of us, it’s an exodus” throughout much of the song. This makes the track feel as though they are singing with you, bringing you along on their journey of escapism.
Amongst the fast-paced indie rock moments throughout Foreign Tapes, Parades provide the listener with some quite majestic tracks on this long-player. The synth-laden Invaders (Review) and down-tempo Lung Full Of Light show the band’s ability to move from one style of music to another whilst keeping their unique uplifting post-rock style intact. Shave’s vocals on the latter bring to life a story about a life beneath the ocean, with Boulet proving he is no dummy behind the skins. However the album’s centerpiece is most definitely Loserspeak In New Tongue. This track dares to be different from the start, with scratchy-sounding vocals leading into group chants which build into a wall of sound, evoking images of bursting life and explosions of colour. The song ebbs and flows throughout, showing the band’s deeper, darker, more thoughtful elements, with the mix of keys, guitars and vocals sounding almost jazz-like in part. The lyrics also manage to make this track feel like the expression of youth that it is, with Cunningham singing of adolescent apprehension to great effect (“lift your head you are young, don’t go cutting at your tongue”).
The album closer, Vulturehood, only leaves you wanting more from this band, with the slow acoustic fadeout transformed towards the end of the track by the same edgy guitar sound that Parades are not afraid to exert throughout much of Foreign Tapes. It is easy to see through many elements of the group’s sound that their indie contemporaries, namely bands such as Sigur Ros, Bloc Party, and Radiohead have all influenced the making of this album in some way. However, Parades almost create their own style of visual post-rock with their debut effort, and it is hard to compare the band’s sound to any other collective going around. With ambition, expression, and youth on their side, Parades have certainly put their hand up for Australian album of the year early in 2010, while delivering one of the more impressive debut albums from any Australian band in quite some time.
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