Parade – ‘The Fabric’ Album Review

And so, not even a month into 2010, the first essential purchase has dropped through my door and spent the subsequent days spinning my CD player into submission.

It is no secret that the last decade has been a particularly good time for progressive music. Always bubbling under the surface thanks to the enourmous success of early bands in the genre, it nonetheless became that most unfashionable of styles in the nineties but returned with a vengeance in a variety of guises with bands like Dream Theater, Opeth and Porcupine Tree spearheading the metallic side, while new albums from Genesis, Gong, Marillion and the world’s briefest reformation in the Pink Floyd camp flew the flag for more traditional progressive sounds. Now we have Parade releasing their debut album which stands in the previously unexplored ground between the aggressive indie of Seafood (remember them?) and the complex progressive sounds of early Genesis.

Opening gambit ‘intro thing’ appears in a shimmering haze of synth and whimsical sounds before rapidly giving way to the first track proper ‘come alive’ which introduces the smoky, soulful voice of Anne-Marie Helder, a powerful weapon in the band’s sonic arsenal as she sounds refreshingly different from other female singers currently treading the boards, almost recalling Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane) with her intonation, although far less harsh upon the ears than that much vaunted singer. Meanwhile the band lay down a beautifully mellow backing track filled with hidden sounds that reveal themselves with each listen and a brilliant solo that, while a little low in the mix for my tastes, brings the track to a storming conclusion. ‘Start again’ (a personal favourite on the disc) is faster and brings to mind the Seafood comparison I mentioned earlier with duelling male-female vocals, off-kilter solos and a jangly guitar line that expands in the mid section into a glorious burst of colour and noise. It’s a great song and features a chorus that you’ll be humming for weeks if you’re not careful but it contains a dark edge that is easy to miss in the gorgeous melody on the first listen.

‘The diamond’ comes next, opening with an insistent acoustic guitar before Anne-Marie’s sublime voice appears, drenched in reverb while the band offer  a subtle and beautiful reinforcement to the track which slowly builds in atmosphere, throwing in more and more elements until the song finally bursts into life some few minutes in. ‘High life’, by contrast, adds in tribal elements  and sounds almost folky with its close vocal harmony and lyrical theme. ‘The dogs’ sounds darker, particularly after the open spaces of ‘high life’. It’s another favourite of mine from the album, with scratchy voices lost somewhere amidst the darkness, and a nagging guitar riff that builds perfectly to the chorus and finally to a heavier passage that features HUGE drums and a solo that harks back to when Radiohead remembered what guitars were actually for before being buried under a howl of feedback.

While ‘the dogs’ may well e the dark heart of the album, ‘facing down’ offers a lighter tonic, with gentle guitar underlying a beautifully harmonious vocal and the drums underpinning the whole thing nicely. ‘Feedline’ is a dark song that could be much-missed Bristol band Strangleove, but it adds layers of atmospheric synth and time changes to make sure the track remains very much their own, and that’s not saying anything about the totally mental closing section which is fantastic and unexpected. After the previous track’s weirdness, ‘cut’ is a blissed-out moment of calm, with those glorious harmonies once again to the fore before exploding in a burst of frenetic soloing. ‘All that I wanted’ is just indescribably beautiful, find it and listen to it. Final track ‘ending’ is a soothing, beautiful mixture of piano and vocals that is a fitting ending to a beautiful album.

In ‘The Fabric’, Parade have crafted an album which draws upon a huge list of influences and which still manages to sound fresh and original. The level of musicianship is extraordinary without being overtly flashy and the songs are memorable works that display a level of detail and confidence that is remarkable in a debut album. A fantastic release from a band who will undoubtedly go on to great things, highly recommended.