Parsy - Beach Blind Court EP2

​Parsy

Beach Blind Court EP2
self-released; 2016

3.6 out of 5

By Dan Weston

Parsy is an artist from Boulder, Colorado, who recently released Beach Blind Court EP2. The EP is lo-fi and sounds like a mix of ’90s bands and maybe early Deerhunter and Real Estate. The songs are on the shorter side and don’t really go into many spaces from where they begin. 

The EP starts off with “You.” You are treated to an audible sniffle before being introduced to clean reverb laced guitar, soft drums and vocals where you can barely make out a word. At its best it has similarities to the band Sparklehorse. The song isn't very dynamic. Whether it's the vocals or the instrumentation. Overall it’s a pleasant, interesting opener but doesn’t exactly grab you. It’s so lush and works on such a low level type energy.

They may have been some influence from Deerhunter, Real Estate or other like-minded indie bands on "Hauh (for John)". His vocals are so wet in reverb and delay effects you might not notice that he is singing. The same riff repeats and he occasionally makes what sounds like improvised vocal utterances.

I really had no clue that there were any words in “Guacamoke” until I heard him cough at one point. He basically plays a guitar riff which reminded me of early Hum or Smashing Pumpkins for a while till it ends. I really dug the guitar parts. 

“Sprite Sponsorship” has clear lyrics although he sounds like he's barely getting the words out of his mouth. So much so that it's hard to tell if he was singing or talking or if it even matters. “Oh What a Day We've Had” is another riff that more less repeats the riff it introduces while “Slowguy” could be described as an ambient piece with a slice of Four Tet flair. “Slowguy” had the best groove on the EP. 

Parsy still has a long way to go before competing with some of the bands he seems to be influenced by but has great potential. He has kernels of ideas but it seems like he doesn’t know where to take them at times. His songs felt like snippets that could have expanded into more. Hopefully the production will get better in time but I think he needs to focus on structure and transitions unless he wants to stick to more ambient, loop-based material which is what this felt like. I’d also implore him to maybe ease on the vocal effect if he wants there to be a lead vocal with understandable words. Bradford Cox puts a lot of effects on his vocals but you can still understand what he is saying. Those were the kind of effects I felt like he was going for.

​While these two things are things I think he can improve upon there are certainly things that seem to be going in the right direction. First off the EP does have a cohesive sound to it and that's half the battle in my opinion. Some bands say that they don’t want a sound but I think that is more just a lack of direction. Parsy has a sound that I actually really enjoyed. That being said I still want to hear him take it to the next level. 

​Parsy feels like an artist who may be able to hit his stride in the next release or two. There are plenty of great ideas here but I would like to hear him push it further.

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