The New Album from Parkwalker Digs Deep
- BuzzSlayers
- 43 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The latest release from Parkwalker dives deep into storytelling with some amazingly detailed lyrics that really help you paint pictures in your head as songs unfold, along with unique and intricate guitar work that has natural flows to them and amazing progressions, but also gives some technical insight so that you have elements of a sort of post-rock and emo undertone that shines through.
This is a really cool record. There's no point at which it really becomes overwhelming; rather, it gives you a calm, soothing approach most of the time. The guitars or mostly clean, and I feel like that guitar work is an insanely key element to the entire record.
You can hear some of those late 90s and early 2000s influences coming through here and there, especially with those guitars which really push that aesthetic.
The vocals also have a very upfront sort of feel. It's not very wet. There's no massive effects on them. They're in your face, and that helps you pay attention to the lyrics a lot, along with some of these classic melodies that they come up with along the way.
One of my favorite aspects about this release is how they deliver this huge and kind of impactful energy, even when guitars are clean.
"Strong Suit" is a great example of this. There are moments where the song gets sort of hard and heavy, but instead of going distorted with those guitars, they just give more layers, so you have these overlapping melodies that notes are just pouring out of.
I definitely love this aspect, and they do it pretty often throughout the record.
One thing I have to take note of is the drummer. The drummer does such an outstanding job throughout this entire record. He adds these ghost notes everywhere, brings a slight jazz nuance to things at times, and adds a bunch of drive to certain parts of the track, like the ones I mentioned earlier, where the guitars are layered but clean. During those sections of drums just slam. He's smashing those crash cymbals so the song has a huge push, and this is a huge part of what creates that big energy.
The record closes out with the song called "Truly", and this is one of the tracks that showcases how the band can create certain kinds of atmospheres.
The whole record itself has a sort of subtle form of delicate tonality.
It lets you think, soak in lyrics, hear the stories, and understand where the songs are coming from, while still delivering these moods for those lyrics that fit perfectly.
This is a record that you should listen to all the way through, because only then can you get the full spectrum of what it has to offer.
You can definitely hear elements of pop rock shining through in different chunks, including the opening track, "Open Sea".
The song does a great job of introducing the record and its soundscape, but it also brings a certain brightness to the table as well.
There's something about these songs that feels alive. They put you in the moment with them, somehow.
A lot of The Extra Mile album actually feels like it was recorded live on the floor. Everyone involved feels like they were feeding off each other's energy.
I think that's part of what makes the whole thing so attractive. You feel like you're sitting in the room watching them play it.
This was a unique record, and there are elements about it that you end up connecting with, especially lyrically. But again, the instrumentation and how everything is performed really hits home in terms of creating those atmospheres and moods that connect with the lyrics, so the whole record sort of falls together like puzzle pieces.
Definitely dive into this one when you can, so you can hear exactly what I'm talking about.
Remember where you heard it first.
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