Today, you’re going to hear about one of my favorite rock bands Ever!! Put your reading glasses on and get comfortable because this is going to be a long one.
Sun Parade, consisting of Chris Jennings on guitar and vocals, Jeff Lewis on guitar and vocals, Max Wareham on bass and vocals, Karl Helander on drums and vocals, and Eli Salus-Kleiner on the keyboard, are based out of the lovely town of Northampton, Massachusetts and have about 4 albums/EPs currently released and I'm going to quickly go over All Of Them.
The first musical masterpiece that I was able to find is the band's self titled EP, The Sun Parade, which consists of six beautifully crafted jams. Need You By My Side introduces the 2011 EP; feel good folk rock vibes within the instrumental and heartbroken lyrical undertones striking every listener at their core. The writing in this song hits close to home for me; especially with the last lyrics in the track, "I'm broken without you". I mean I literally FELT that, I think almost all of us have felt that way about someone in our lives before and it HURTS man! This entire EP is filled with beautiful songs and special moments like those; where you hear a specific lyric and are able to wholeheartedly relate.
Sun Parade's second musical masterpiece was created under the album name Yossis, released about a year after the incredible self titled EP. Yossis consists of thirteen beautifully crafted jams, and if you pay enough attention you'll even notice that some songs from The Sun Parade EP make an appearance on Yossis! ahh! But real shit, this album is unlike anything I've listened to in the past. Acoustic guitar is extremely prominent throughout the entirety of the album which seems to accentuate the lovely lyrics and the voices that are singing the lovely lyrics, everything just fits together perfectly to create something so unique and magnificent.
The third musical masterpiece comes in the form of a six song EP titled Heart's Out. The EP was released a little more than 2 years after the release of Yossis and features a bit of a change in sound. Instead of the acoustic guitar, Sun Parade bust out the electric guitar (? I think? I'm not good with instruments) to create more of a psychedelic/indie rock feel, a feel that you will notice throughout this EP and their latest album, Shuggy Mtn Breakdown. These six songs that come together to create Heart's Out will make you question why you haven't been listening to Sun Parade for the past 7 years. The smooth ass transitions from the very end of Tonight's Gone Away into I'm Still Here, and from A Plane To New Zealand into Ham & Cheese will absolutely blow your mind. Seriously, check them out right now and tell me they're not the smoothest shits you've ever heard. Not only are the transitions from song to song brilliant, but every single part of every single track on this EP is just insanely fantastic. Going along with their past works, Sun Parade make it easy for the listeners to relate to every song and really get into the music. I mean, I'm currently listening to Ham & Cheese and I can barely even write because I'm so overwhelmed by how GOOD it is.
Sun Parade's most recent musical masterpiece is titled Shuggy Mtn Breakdown and has been one of my favorite albums since it came out last fall, three years after the release of Heart's Out. I have so much to say about this album I literally don't even know if I'll even be able to put my feelings into coherent words. To start off, the entire record grabs your attention with it's catchy psych/indie rock rhythm. There is not a single song on this album that I haven't listened to a million times, it's that good. Every song on this record gives off different vibes, one minute you feel like you're made out of the sun and the stars, and the next minute you're air-guitaring, headbanging, and screaming all at once. Sun Parade have managed to successfully portray a wide range of emotions throughout the album, emotions that the audience can feel within seconds of the start of any track. Though the entirety of this twelve track album has left me speechless multiple times, a couple tracks that really stand out to me are Steal My Thunder, Game Boy, See You In The Sunshine, and Psycho.
There's something about Steal My Thunder that's just so intriguing I really don't even know how to explain it, the exhilarating vocals matched with the incredible incredible INCREDIBLE guitar, bass, and drum playing gets me so HYPED, it makes me feel like I can take on the ENTIRE WORLD. And don't even get me started on Game Boy, I've listened to that song an embarrassing amount of times. Chris's voice is so unique in the best way; it fits remarkably well with everything going on in the song and leaves me dancing my ass off every time. I am for real unable to actually explain how good this song is so please just listen to it, once you do you'll know what I'm talking about.
OK, See You In The Sunshine goes hard. Whenever I listen to this song I feel like I'm on cloud nine, it's one of those songs that you need to listen to if you want to lose yourself in some good music. Like I said before, I really know nothing about instruments and music, but I feel like the instrumentals in this song really tie it all together. The solo guitar in the middle of the song followed by perfectly times drums.... oh my gooood I can't get enough.
So, I'm listening to Psycho right now and I have something to say. The way the tempo slows down in the middle of the verse (? I THINK? I really do not know what it's called) to emphasize everything amazing that has come together to make the song, the guitar, the drums, the bass, the vocals, is probably my favorite aspect of the track. This song is the pinnacle of psychedelic/indie rock music.
I have A Lot more to say about Sun Parade and how amazing all of their work is but I'm 1.1k words in and I'm not sure anyone will actually read this far down.
BUT. Please please please listen to this stunning album and all of the other amazing pieces of work Sun Parade have released, you will not regret it I promise.
To stay up to date with the wonderful Sun Parade, you can check them out on Bandcamp, follow them on Instagram, like them on Facebook, and keep up with their website!
pictures and words by eva
