Three Imaginary Girls - Tomlab

Parenthetical Girls talk about The Scottish Play

Chris Estey — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:08:49 +0000

Zac Pennington of the Parenthetical Girls recently sent downloads of his band's absolutely delightful "mini-LP" adapting Scottish poet Ivor Cutler's imagery to their idyllic blend of artful electro-pop. I fell madly in love with the eight song cycle, and begged Pennington to answer some questions as he takes in the Old World on the eve of the Parenthetical Girls' holiday seven inch announcement and the limited availability of The Scottish Play

Parenthetical Girls get lovingly redone by Deerhoof; play Seattle

Chris Estey — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:18:58 +0000

Just a quick note to glory in the beautiful reworking Deerhoof has done on the Parenthetical Girls' song "GUT Symmetries" from PG's new album, Entanglements.

Entanglements

Chris Estey — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:05:57 +0000

8.7

http://tombaleb.com/parentheticalgirls

parentheticalgirls08sept.jpg

After three years in the planning and created in two months of breathless, obsessive thickening, involving near twenty-five classically trained and experimental musicians, toggled between Seattle, WA and the Parenthetical Girls' home-base of Portland, Oregon, their third album Entanglements is boisterously, melodramatically ambitious.

Repeated listening -- OK, breathless, obsessive listening -- has proven that its linguistic acrobatics and near-supernatural emotional metonymy is worthy of its emulous goals. Entanglements may be called fey by mooks and fools, but it is not for the faint of heart.

This is the first PG album that I have experienced -- up until now I'd only seen them live only once, and only heard bits of their debut (((GRRRLS))) and the attention-grabbing 2006 release Safe As Houses. Entanglements was intended to follow up their first record, but the ideas that founder Zac Pennington and his occasional collaborators were coming up with, based on visions of a highly conceptual orchestral scale, required such adhesion that the cycle was set aside until Pennington could fully articulate them.

Pennington brought together a core of musicians -- starting with longtime producer, engineer, and co-conspirator Jherek Bischoff of The Dead Science, adding multi-instrumentalists Rachael Jensen, Eddy Crichton, and the reportedly extremely versatile Matt Carlson -- who help Pennington create an effervescent tapestry of song and sound for this third record.

This release does more than dabble in pretentious rock chamber-pop, using strings to evoke moods that normally transcend the normal alternative rock music fan's emotional base; Entanglements comes off as exciting as maybe the first time you heard The Smiths, but much scarier and challenging; I would rather liken it to the personal discovery of the Velvet Underground, when an open mind is enraptured by what real art-song lyrics and music can be when crafted and performed for those who have grown up in the silhouettes of Burroughs, the Beatles, and the bomb.

Pennington's brave and beautiful falsetto drives the scabrous and perturbing imagery of "Young Eucharists" and "GUT Symmetries" to seem as transgressive as "Venus in Furs" or "What Difference Does It Make?" but with the most epicurean and voluptuous string-led parlor room music you can imagine to accompany them.

The Parenthetical Girls and their album Entanglements is (perhaps gleefully) not for everybody. It was probably planned that way, but part of me thinks it should be out there written about in every magazine and on every website, its abject honesty and boldness like an afflatus, a wind from everywhere.

However, a practical warning would be that it is not for fans of the guitars, bass, and drums archetype. This is, to be honest, probably nowhere near rock and roll (though like a tall glass of pernod it rocks for me!). People might consider it precious and scholastic, but to me it feels like a bracing, invigorating change of pace from the norm.

If you'd rather your luxurious violent femme rhapsodies be more fashionable Xiu Xiu Kenneth Anger-rock-based or full-throttle blood-thirsty apeshit Dead Science style (Zac is also joined here by Sam Mickens from that band as well) Entanglements might be too literary for you. I would beg the listener who is bored with bands not taking things far enough, not saying a little too much, not ever revealing the transvaluation of all values through masterful musical persuasiveness to throw in with me and recurrently enjoy what might be my favorite record of the year.

The perfect dread of answered prayers elegantly and powerfully articulated.

Parenthetical Girls Tour; Songs Covered By Dead Science and No Kids

Chris Estey — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:33:40 +0000

Download these dazzling gems now, as they will not be released commercially.

P.D.A.

imaginary ash — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:58:56 +0000

7.7

http://www.amazon.com/P-D-Hey-Willpower/dp/B0010V4U5O/wwwthreeimagi-20/

willpower.jpg

I first heard about Hey Willpower two and a half years ago, when their "Double Fantasy II" video made its way to my inbox. I had just started working for a music magazine, and they were on the cover of one of my very first issues, so I got myself familiar with them quick. I fell in love with the song, the video, and the band — which features Imperial Teen's Will Schwartz on vocals and Tussle's Tomo Yasuda on electronica. At that time, they had toured with Le Tigre and were getting decent press, mostly focused on their live shows which featured Schwartz on vocals and dance moves (with two background dancers) while Yasuda worked a laptop.

The duo recorded a track with then-It indie-pop girl Annie (the gem "Chewing Gum"), and then seemingly vanished. They had a couple of songs on their MySpace player (including "Hundredaire," for which a single was at some point released), but they sort of just seemed to go the way of the dodo. I never heard another thing about them, and then Imperial Teen regrouped and released a new album last year and I figured Hey Willpower was as good as dead.

How delightful then to find that they are in fact very much alive, and that they've finally released P.D.A. here in the US. The album, which it turns out was released in Europe a couple years back, never got released here — who knows why. So to many who know the Hey Willpower story better than I do, this will be nothing more than a re-release with one new song (a cover of Architecture In Helsinki's "Heart It Races"), but to others who missed them the first time around, I present to you Hey Willpower. Take the sounds of Justin Timberlake, add cooler beats and cheekier lyrics, and throw in volumes of hipster cred, and you might arrive at something like this.

In fact, those are the two most notable components of Hey Willpower's sound: The tongue-in-cheek lyrics ("I am ok with playing truth or dare / as long as you end up in your underwear"), and the space-age beats and sounds. When these two things come together they make for a hell of a good time. The album begins with "Double Fantasy II," a fine introduction to what's in store. It is immediately infectious. See the video below for proof.

"Uh-Uh-Uh," another pop gem, follows: "Everybody get on the floor / everybody wanna uh-uh-uh." The album splits time between such dancey, crunky rhythms ("Hundredaire," "Magic Window," "In the Basement") and R&B flavored vibes ("Retail Heaven," "Silent Ring," "Not Trippin'"). The styles overlap plenty, making for a fluid and enjoyable listening experience.

The final track is the Architecture In Helsinki cover, and having not heard the original, I'll say only that I can't resist tapping and singing along, which I'd say about all of Hey Willpower's songs and every Architecture In Helsinki song I have heard. So for me, it certainly succeeds.

Schwartz masters the art of breathy, upper range pop star vocals with Hey Willpower, a fun departure from his Imperial Teen indie rocker role. It's not better or worse, just different; if you come to P.D.A. with Imperial Teen expectations, you'll be quite surprised. Think of it as a foray into crunk/pop. If you were unfamiliar with Imperial Teen coming in, you'd alternately be surprised upon hearing them after becoming familiar with Schwartz through Hey Willpower. With this project, he proves himself quite a versatile and clever entertainer.

Hey Willpower "Double Fantasy II":

File this one under "It's About Goddamn Time."