Parks at Night
Parks at Night are guitarist Mikko Canini, and bassist Erik Southey - who on the lookout for a drummer recruited an old friend in Marc Bernhard - and an obsession with female harmonies by groups such as Bananarama led to the group being complemented by the gorgeous vocals of Amelia Goodlet and Erin Colgan.
"Bright Red" opens with "That way" and a monotonic kick drum which is soon engulfed by chugging, rhythmic guitar and bass to create a moody soundscape to which the brooding vocals of Amelia and Erin plead with weary resignation that "...“I don’t want to feel that way..." And while the song might interpreted as a plea to move on, the song's video - a deserted camp site, a lake and a storm, not to mention a police car - suggests this is one of those games of 'dare' that didn't turn out for the best. I love how as the song progresses, the sound becomes more expansive, throws in some subtle chord changes and finally explodes as the song reaches its climax, while the vocals take on an even more desperate air of anguish. All the while there's a post-punk / reggae back-beat (the sort of thing that The Clash pulled off with such aplomb) that powers the song forward - even if it is headlong towards its denouement...
But if the EP's opener has one ear on the early-Eighties and comes complete with an edge of melodarama, "Snow" is a pretty perfect slice of contemporary indie-pop that from the onset shares much in common with the sound across the other side of Lake Erie (I know that Toronto is actually on Lake Ontario - but never let facts get into the way of a good narrative) - a theme that I'll return to later - it's light and frothy, packing a chorus that I guarantee will get the mosh-pit a-bouncing... but then on the second or third listen you start to focus on the lyrics you realise that this is a song about Winter (Doh!); "...It gets cold, Summer dies..." and thoughts turn to those questions that are best discussed over long Winter's evening in the company of friends and a bottle of something 'fortified' - there's a juxtaposition between the heady guitar-fuelled soundtrack and the student philosophising of lyrics which makes the song even more intriguing.
Guitar and drums weave in an out of one another to create the distinctive staccato sound of "Today." Vocals strike out independently before combining note perfectly on the anthemic and knockout refrain as the band give the song's coda the full-bore treatment and one that demands to be played loud... And distinctive is an adjective that can be thrown at "I don't mind." Again there's a contrast between the banshee guitars and metronomic percussion and the air of exasperation in the song's lyrics as offers of help and support are met by by stonewall silence.
And then the band go and figuratively knock it out of the park (sorry) with the EP's closer, "Smoke it." It's perfect indie-pop and which - as I've previously alluded - shares a kinship with Cleveland's Leggy. Indeed there's more than a touch of the Véronique Allaer in Amelia's vocals as she celebrates soaking up the Sun whilst enjoying a crafty drag or two. The song merrily breezes along and - while it may carry a Government health warning - is the perfect summer anthem; bouncing guitars and percussion melt into another soaring refrain, dipping in and out of some complex harmonisations courtesy of Amelia and Erin. It's arguably the EP's most poppier number - and none the worse for being so.
For a band whose tag-line is "Not pop but pop, not punk but punk" - and all points in-between - this EP is the perfect introduction to those of us who missed out on last year's Eponymous debut album (seriously, there's so much good music out there people), but which also demonstrates how far the band have come in such a short time frame...
Parks at Night
"Bright Red" (Bandcamp)
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