For someone who grew up around both traditional folk music and the dreamscaping post punk machinations of the 80’s, Parabola West is the logical and latest point on a musical journey through the sweet spots of my record collection. It links back to the likes of Kate Bush and Bat For Lashes and also rubs shoulders with a whole host of indie musicians fusing roots music with more pop accessible sounds and just as many dyed in the wool folkies working out ways of keeping their genre relevant, fresh and perhaps even lucrative.
But not only is Calling Your Name a blend of tradition and modernity, it goes further than most in its ability to incorporate the most primal and elemental of vocals into the cutting edge of man made of sonic technologies. They should be mutually exclusive but Parabola West shows that when done correctly they can be the most natural of allies.
The result is a song that both shimmers and drives on a beat, is confident and direct yet ethereal and drifting, has pop credentials yet seems like the most ancient of sounds…or at least how a modern artist interprets ancient sounds. On paper this might seem like some sort of new age fusion, a way of genre-hopping for the most cynical of reasons but that is only because my words don’t have the same power to convey the inherent beauty that the music does. Far from being a calculated cross-over, this is almost a new genre in its own right, or even better no genre at all. Classically infused, wonderfully ethereal, instantly accessible and both fresh and familiar in equal parts. Ancient music for the next generation.
