By Mandy Rogers
If
you don’t happen to know, I am a hardened Parralox fan stemming from
the first instance of hearing the early demos that appeared on
Myspace. In fact, I would go so far to say that debut release
“Electricity” would be one of 5 discs I’d grab from a sinking boat
if I was to end up stranded on a desert island. As you can imagine
that’s a tough act to follow, yet I will endeavor to review this
objectively. So are the John and Amii scoring the same sort of reaction
second time around?
Well, opener “Beautiful World” is a good place to start, the glockenspiel percussion lends a magical element
amongst the electrical pulsating background, this along with the
lyrical content makes for an uplifting 4mins 25secs…so were off to a
good start…phew!
What has been apparent to me, as I’ve listened through the album a
few times now, is that every so often I catch myself thinking out
aloud of possible influences during a track. This is no way a bad thing,
I think it’s kinda cool that the listener can maybe pick up on where
the inspirational forces behind the music have been drawn upon. I
hear…Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Heaven 17 and Yazoo amongst others.
Case in point: “Isn’t It Strange” is glorious testament to an 80’s
mash between Depeche Mode’s “Everything Counts” which further tugs at
the Pet Shop Boys “It’s A Sin” – totally riding on the nu-wave with
this one!
I would say that this time around the sound has matured somewhat
overall. As with “State Of Decay” Parralox do push out the boundaries
further from their trademark poppier tracks that they continue to
master on this follow-up release like “Moonwalking” and “Two
Hearts”, mixing in a harder edge with the incorporation of an
electric guitar on “When The Walls Came Tumbling Down”. “Be Careful
What You Wish For” on the other hand is made of the stuff that could
easily find itself in the realms of a film soundtrack. The epic-ness of
“Time” is on par with electronic legends such as “Vangelis” or “Jean
Michel Jarre” and I truly mean that! Whereas closing track “Hold Me Now” smacks similarities to the works of prolific composer Angelo
Badalamenti who if you don’t have a clue as to whom he is, was the
maestro behind the soundtrack to David Lynch’s cult 80’s TV drama “Twin
Peaks”. I happen to know that John is a Tweakie of yore like myself so
I am bubbling over like Norma’s coffee percolator and am in cherry
pie heaven, seated at a table at the Road House on this one.
Amii delivers vocal magic throughout and is every bit as
accomplished as predecessor Roxy. This time around we also get to hear
more vocals from John, “Isn’t It Strange” and more predominantly upon
“In The Night”, which I gladly applaud (don’t be shy John, you and
Amii are a formidable vocal teaming!)
To be perfectly frank, in my stance to write an objective review, I
have listened to this through at least three times today in an attempt to
tweak out bits and pieces that don’t fit so well, yet I sincerely am
at a loss to find any.
In conclusion, the entire “State Of Decay” package is flawless,
from duo Amii and John’s contributions down to the production
services of Juan Del Toro, the carefully placed track dedications and
those stunning pieces of photographic art from Hugo Harlot. Gold stars
to all at team Parralox for achieving an outstanding sophomore
recording, a feat that so many other artists flounder at after a highly
successful debut.
I am given to believe that they could be making a trip over to the
UK sometime next year and I intend not to miss out on the opportunity
to catch them, the only thing stopping me from doing so would be if
hell freezes over!
The Parralox dominance of my pod continues and I wouldn’t have it any other way!.
Zoom over to the Conzoom shop without delay and pick yourself up a shiny disc of “State Of Decay”