Parade Music - Mime Erotica

Parade Music

Mime Erotica
​self-released; 2017

​3.5 out of 5

By Jamie Funk
 

According to the artist behind the solo project Parade Music the project serves as a challenge to see how much music a person with no innate understanding of the recording process can release. Collaborating with musicians across Melbourne, Australia’s indie rock landscape, Parade Music will be releasing new sounds every week potentially forever. 

Just by looking at the Bandcamp page it doesn’t seem like the artist is releasing music every week to my knowledge. I also don’t understand the purpose of the challenge for a number of reasons like  over-saturating your fan base and simply rushing every song you can conceive.

His first release Mime Erotica plays like it took longer than a week to write, record, mix and release. If that is indeed the case I’d be way more interested to see what he could come up with no time constraints. The songwriting is good, the production is solid and I enjoyed what I heard. My one suggestion is to have the songs mastered or at the very least slap a limiter on there to make it louder. 

Up first is “Syrup.” I was attracted to the vocals immediately and was reminded of Ben Gibbard. He has a similar childlike solace in his voice. You will know what I’m talking about when you hear it. The music is somewhere between Pavement-esque indie rock and pop rock.

I liked the first track but “Shipwreck” was more up my alley. The vocal melody is infectious and the distorted guitars sound great. Perhaps the best moments are towards the epic instrumental ending.

​Up next is “Coffee Cup” which has shades of Conor Oberst while “The Moment After” is a clear highlight with hard hitting drums and a surplus of energy. The other track you won't want to miss is “Fumes” but the melancholy closer “Sleepy Time” is emotionally resonant. 

I thought there was a lot to appreciate on Mime Erotica. I’m interested to see where he takes this project in the future.

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