Parcels, bit by bit
Parcels may very well have succeeded in organizing the best launch of a first album in recent memory. It all started in 2014 in Byron Bay, Australia, when a bunch of high schoolers decided to start a band, as so many do. What was less common, though, was that this was a funk band, with an interesting take on the electro-funk blend that was then taking center stage thanks to the guys from Daft Punk — with the help of Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers, that is. How they came up with this idea staring at one of the world’s most scenic beaches we might never know…
A couple of beautifully polished EP’s later, which gradually built them a following, and after moving to the more adequate location that is Berlin for that particular kind of music, the kids from Parcels were now somewhat established 20-somethings making retro-futuristic electro-funk tracks in the hotbed of European musical creation. Not bad after just 3 years of working on their craft.
What helped was that they were very good at said craft: their ability to master a very subtle genre — at such a young age! — obviously stood them apart from all those EDM-electro outfits desperately trying to mimic the success of David Guetta, Skrillex or the late Avicii. Which explains that the guys from Daft Punk, in many ways their spiritual forebearers, took notice and decided to work with them on a track — “Overnight”. Rather unsurprisingly, that was also their first hit. Talk about an introduction.
That is when I saw them perform live, in Paris’ 2018 Rock en Seine festival, hoping not to be disappointed by such a young band performing pretty sophisticated licks that usually don’t translate all that well onstage. Turns out my fears were thoroughly unfounded: the precision of their sound, the perfect yet subdued guitar riffs, the impeccable blending of all the parts to create a remarkably consistent whole made their band name all the more pertinent. Several parcels put together make for a very fine finished product indeed.
Then came the ever dreaded first album: when you’ve had such a spotless rise — at such a stratospheric pace — through the ranks of contemporary electronic music, you may quite possibly disappoint with your first full-on LP outing. But guess what: it was as on fleek, for a change.
Everything about Parcel’s debut album, aptly named Parcels, is entirely thought through. The cover, a perfect PanAm-era rip-off, sets the tone: these guys, no matter how young they are, know the classics like the back of their hands. Also, they don’t only know Nile Rodgers: they’ve somehow managed to sublime his best work with slick, yet utterly simple guitar riffs that create a beautifully cosy Alphabet-city-meets-the-new-age atmosphere. They even got smart about song names: all track titles have their words tied to each other, as if to signify once and for all that unity prevails in Parcels (I will stop making puns when I can’t find any left).
Finally, the songs from Parcels are incredibly polished works that subtly bleed into each other, making a listen of the album a uniquely smooth experience. You can feel the Nile Rodgers and Daft Punks of this world peeking in the background as the spiritual references they obviously are, but never too overtly or too bluntly: these young musicians have managed to create a very consistent and rather identifiable sound that took many of their pears decades to perfect.
Here’s to more success — bit by bit.
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