Parenthetical Girls – Privilege, pt. 1 EP

Parenthetical Girls - Privilege, pt. 1 EP

A favourite of a certain Gareth Campesinos!, this is the first part of what promises to be an exciting endeavour – a series of five self contained, self released EP’s to release, in the words of singer Zac Pennington, “short, appetising bursts of anima”.  And appetising it certainly does sound.

Opener ‘Evelyn McHale’s jangling intro drum rolls into a distinctive, sumptuous croon, Pennington reminding his subject of “When you got crippled by that car / When we was martyred monthly / And scarred by the way that we are / We nearly broke your mothers heart”.  A morbid set of words indeed, juxtaposed against a rather more upbeat tune adorned with the aforementioned jangling and swooping swirls of sound.

‘Someone Else’s Muse’ starts with church style organs before launching lovingly into a further memoir of what once was, both good and bad (“We both said things that we’d come to regret”).  Dropping in with a mid section of clattering drums at one moment before turning in a second break of piano and hi hat tapping.  “It was all that I could muster / Just to kiss you”.  You can feel the emotion dripping from the vocals throughout.

The start of ‘On Death And Endearments’ oddly reminds me of The Corrs, in the breathy female boo-ba’s that mark the introduction of another tale of loss, remarking this time that he is “Shit at goodbyes”, later hoping that “History / She will surely forgive me” over wistful electronica.

There is something funereal about the EP’s closing track ‘Found Drama I’, with the return of the organ the angelic chorals and the single death rattle rat-a-tat ending.

The overall sound is one of a ramshackle loveliness, of both longing for something and of being totally at peace without it, all the while remembering…well, again I shall turn to Pennington to sum up his bands work - “…one of the album’s major themes is the beauty inherent in heroic, unequivocal failure”.

This may be a theme perhaps, but not a result.  Not at all.  The Privilege is all mine.

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