The abrasive nature of some music speaks to a violent deterrence to norms and status quo, to mindless “everything-is-fine” garbage. It speaks to me, too. The world is on fire and you want to listen to major chords? Nah, no way. Brooklyn duo Parlor Walls recognizes the importance of the less agreeable, of the scorched brushtroke, on their new album, Heavy Tongue, a brilliant continuation of a noise-infused no-wave that has challenged conventions and turned “safe” listening on its head for the last 6+ years. Dispositions trade back and forth like peddlers in a marketplace of bleak proportions—wistful for somber; alluring for grotesque, sprightly for anxious-as-all-hell; and back again—all within the blink of an eye, because nothing is permanent. The sudden flurry of synthesizer and sampler on opener “Birds of Paradise,” prod in the dark like the sonar call of a submarine, juxtaposed against the [seemingly] automated thundering of drums. Both, impossibly enough, are manned by one half of the band, Chris Mulligan. It’s brooding and inhuman and otherworldly, with only vocalist Alyse Lamb’s pervading cries as indication of anything flesh and blood to the whole thing. Her guitar hammers down in wound-up repetitions, an assembly line set in motion with the push of a button.
From here, Heavy Tongue enters into something of a tug-of-war between human and machine. Dreary yet inquisitive electronics carry over on “Game” and “Lunchbox,” affectations seeping into Lamb’s voice and creating in her something wholly “other.” 80’s glam flirts with alien samples on “Violets,” and it’s beautifully strung up in neon sadness. Mulligan’s chug-a-lug and tumbling tom-strikes make for a goddamn unassuming catchy track, as you find yourself shaking along, uneasy in your own reveling. The latter half of the album is rife with misgiving, and suspenseful symphonic parts (“Spinning Gold”) and boisterous chaos. The infusion of indecipherable noise with uncanny melodies and infectious rhythms that pulsate out of body, only intensifies as Heavy Tongue hurdles towards its uncertain close (“Rails”), and when quiet finally hits, it hits hard.
Heavy Tongue is out now via Famous Swords.