Our Melbourne is a town that never gives you what you want. Desperate for definition as we all are, Melbourne – like any large city – defies categorisation, in both meteorological and urban terms. You can talk about how pretty the bay is on a summers day, but spend an afternoon sweating in the industrial badlands of Preston and you might not be so chirpy. Wax lyrical on the wonderful creative community that thrives in the town and I’ll suggest you walk down Swanston Street at 2am on a Saturday night. Tell me how everyone is getting along. Talk about how lovely it is outside right now and be certain that you’ll be struck by a blast of sleet within the next moment. My point being that a city is a rich and complex place, it has both unpleasant and beautiful aspects. Dark and light. Loud and quiet.
Released on ace local label Birds Love Fighting, “Swallowing A Sunflower” is a guitar odyssey that captures the contrasting sides of life in Melbourne. And those guitars are glorious. “Shoegaze” is probably one of my most disliked of all silly genre titles but it’s hard to talk about this record without dropping it in. The guitars on “Sunflower” do indeed build walls of sound and we are indeed guided into spiralling chasms of noise by these dream-like songs. The sound here tips its hat to stalwarts of late 80s shoegaze however there’s a rawness to the Parading sound that indicates their place of origin; a combining of hard edges and formless (I do like that word) noise that makes it a distinct Melbourne album.
There’s been a lot of hype about the rise of the “New Pop Underground” in Australia recently but the last eighteen months has also been a Golden Age for heavier bands, led by acts such as Batpiss, The Spinning Rooms, White Wallls and Exhaustion, to name but a few. Parading fit somewhere between the two fields; their songs have a tenderness that sets them apart from these other high volume bands. Their sound is undeniably all about volume however and, like the bands mentioned above, seeing them perform live is the best way of experience Parading. My appreciation for this album has been heightened by seeing a few Parading gigs and they’re an impressively tight unit as a band, devoid of showmanship in their performance. What they are is assured, sharp and paint-strippingly loud. It’s the contrast between the power of their performance and the themes of uncertainty and personal struggle in Tom Barry’s lyrics that makes them an intriguing band.
Opener “Apollo” is the heaviest track of the album, a mid-tempo crusher that establishes the elements of the Parading sound : the muted, rock-solid rhythm section, those heavyweight guitars and Barry’s distinct voice.
His delivery has something of an affected slant to it – not slurred but sounding alternately like he is either entering an altered state or coming down from one. It’s a central part of the bands sound and adds to the understated quality of this album – while the instruments are often hitting celestial heights of noise, the vocals keep the sound grounded, and very human. “Apollo” also hints at lyrical themes to come in it’s fragmented, pained conversations with lovers-
You don’t come easy to me;
Thinking of how long;
We didn’t know that we was wrong
“Country Song” is a heavy one too though slightly more melodic than its predecessor, with the presence of acoustic guitar perhaps contributing to the songs title. It’s got a brighter feel to it, with a guitar refrain that almost reminds me of Teenage Fanclub’s “Alcoholiday”. The lyrics feel conversational but that conversation is happening with just one person – an overseen diary entry of doubt and second guessing.
These dark themes take on their bleakest form in “Flying Too Low”, a song that inverses the myth of Icarus.
Please don’t turn around that’s too slow;
You’re flying too close to the sun;
I’m flying too low
The words here seem to deal with the paralysis of depression. I don’t believe it’s a misanthropic song though the lyrics reference wanting to be alone, of being repelled by society. The feeling of isolation is tangible, though as with many songs on this album the introspective moments are offset by the power of the band. It bristles with stoicism. Parading battle sadness with noise, fend off demons with jet exhaust strength guitars.
At only thirty five minutes “Swallowing A Sunflower” could be regarded as a brief album for a band with such an expansive sound but I think it’s perfectly weighted. Three instrumental tracks break up the album nicely – “Julienne” at the end of side one, “Sweet Julienne” as the second track on side two and the title track as the album closer. Wedged between the two “Julienne” tracks is a crackling cover of Springsteen’s “Factory”. At almost twice the length of the original, it’s delivered at a slower tempo and filled out with a much greater volume. That said it’s one of the more minimal songs on this album, delivered with (of course) less earnestness than the Boss to create a reflective rendition that seems to have more to do with the drudgery of working life than being a rousing working class anthem. Mostly it sounds like a band delivering an affectionate cover a song they admire, and in the context of being a Melbourne album it evokes the city’s hulking docks and factories – an aspect of Melbourne that is rarely acknowledged in song.
“Dreaming about Killing” is aptly named, its dark dreamy tone makes it the most “shoegazy” of all the songs here. A line that concerns a dream about murder can’t help but remind me of the opening line of “Via Chicago”, one of my favourite Wilco songs. And while on the Chicago band, the sound of “Swallowing A Sunflower” does remind me of “A Ghost Is Born” songs like “At Least That’s What You said” and “Hell Is Chrome” in the combining of detached vocals with cathartic guitar noise. Another big influence is undoubtedly Galaxy 500, and the albums high point “Untouched” evokes “Fourth of July” in the spoken delivery of the verses and soaring guitars.
A poignant postmortem on a relationship, it’s a terrific song that’s delivered with great power and honesty.
It was bound to happen;
They were bound to fall over just to get up again;
Two people crashing into each other;
Just to see how close they could get
In tandem with the blissful spaciousness of the closing instrumental, “Untouched” rounds off the album beautifully. Dark days have been encountered on “Swallowing A Sunflower” but it’s an album that leaves a positive afterglow.
Like the long Melbourne winter that never seems to end, followed by the spring that never was, followed by the summer that refuses to begin, this album reflects the uncertainty of life in Melbourne but, I believe, rejoices in that uncertainty. Heartache and hardships come and go in this town, just like any other place. The Great Constant in Melbourne is the music – guitars to get lost in. Noise that bleeds the pain away. Great bands releasing great albums that become your closest of friends. Parading are a Melbourne band.
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For a limited time you can purchase “Swallowing A Sunflower” through Birds Love Fighting and receive “Bow Down To” by Hierophants and the ‘”Fresh Milk EP” by Orbits 7″ for free.
Visit the Birds Love Fighting Bandcamp to do so.
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