Jed Parsons – Brunch
(Independent)
Reviewed by Tim Gruar.
One of indie-pop’s most colourful characters, Canterbury based Jed Parsons, has just dropped his new album, ‘Brunch’, with a menu of ironic and salty/sweet observations of love, maturity and self-absorption.
Failing to grow up and face adulthood seems to be a big theme on ‘Brunch’. “25 is coming, 25 on its way, 25, I’ll stop dreaming,” he sings (on the opener ‘25’), “25 is the dead line…I’m not growing up!”
Older now, but he’s still having issues fully embracing maturity. “I wrote this aptly-titled song about a week before I turned 25 years of age,” Parsons says in his press pack, “after a conversation with my drummer about how the human brain is supposedly fully developed when it hits the quarter-century mark. It kind of freaked me out because I felt like I still had a lot of growing up and maturing to do.” As a father of two, this is a reflection on where he was, and maybe where he wants to go.
Actually, when you listen to Parson’s new album, you can’t help noticing his wry, ironic sense of humour is worn like armour against his own self-realisations. Like the work of Lawrence Arabia, this is a darkly funny, self-deprecating collection of songs wrapped up in catchy, hook-laden sugar sweet tunes that you can’t help but like – on the surface and even more so after deeper listening.
‘Get Desperate’ is a pretty clear observation about running short of moolah. Yet, the way Parsons approaches it, he somehow makes it into more than just a whinge or an inconvenient truth. Witty mantras to empty mattresses and low bank accounts, strumming choruses and even a funky break toward the end make their subject matter almost irrelevant. Is that on purpose?
“New Year’s resolution to take up smoking, but he can’t handle the coffee so he’s giving up. But he’s a seasoned pro – so he’s got something, at least he’s got something,” sings Parsons in complete dead pan. Who’s he talking about? That’s from ‘PlayStation and Porn’ – another reflection on growing up, moving from a man-child – at 33 – to proper adulthood (“he’s done nothing with his life … lifelong ambition of money for nothing,” goes the quote from Dire Straits and Sting, “and his chicks for free.” But Parsons’ take is not a comment of a disgruntled 40-something removal man but, instead, a delusional dreamer with no clear direction.
The theme of complacency, especially in an intimate relationship is another common thread in Parson’s work. “If you dive fractionally deeper, it’s really about unconditional love,” he says, “it’s more specifically about love for somebody whose existence can be summarised by their fascination with two of the world population’s favourite past times – playing video games and watching questionable material on the internet.” It initially penned as a bit of a joke but somehow morphed into a grander production with the band piling on layer after layer of sound and big stacks of harmonies, creating a much more sophisticated result – something Mr Milne would be proud of, I’m sure. It was also the first single. Funny how things work out.
Next up is a cute, crooning song about being dumped. ‘Feeling Sad’ should be about a former lover showing off her new boyfriend to Parsons while he’s on stage – “kissing him outside, while the smokers were toking and the jokers were joking and the heartbreakers were heart-breaking”- in some kind of revenge rebound thing. But instead it all blows up and she’s the one who leaves feeling rejected. The upbeat tempo and saccharine sweet delivery seem to run in the opposite direction to the narrative, especially when it evolves into a California beach style doo-wop sing-a-along.
The new single ‘Sad Together’ is a real downer. An acknowledgement that this relationship only works when things are going badly, feeding off the negative is their best way of working together. But some how the couple can’t break up or face going solo: “We’ve can’t let ourselves get to the point of thinking we’d be better off alone. It’s part of the process”.
“There is an interesting sense of harmony that comes with shared feelings of grief, sadness or anger. As long as those feelings aren’t deeply rooted and toxic, they can contribute positively to the journey of being in love. This song is intended to be a reminder of that.”
And the video is worth checking out, too. In keeping with Parsons’ penchant for quirky video makers Sports Team (nominated in this year’s Aotearoa Music Awards for The Beths’ video for ‘I’m Not Getting Excited’) give you the song framed around ‘that scene’ from every blockbuster rom-com. The male gets the door slammed in his face after screwing up big-time, followed by a sad, sober walk away before the finale – a “bigger twist than M. Night Shyamalan could have pulled off”. It all feeds into Parson’s model for perfect package mini-dramas, elevating his art from just something to hum to something worth consuming on all levels.
‘Movie Knight’ stumbles into action with the lines “It’s ok if you just didn’t get ‘Interstellar’… something about Matthew McConaughey…” then it disappears down a deep rabbit hole of complicated movie plot analysis. Fans will identify, others will blink and smile. Parsons says that he wrote the song to make him self feel better about not “knowing what the f*ck was going in those films, and to empower all my like-minded peers to speak up about their confusion”. He even copy-and-pastes the ‘Inception’ plot from Wikipedia into his lyrics at one point. He calls it his “Christopher Nolan ‘diss’ track”. It’s a funky, witty song that you almost imagine Flight Of The Conchords coming up with.
Another single release is ‘She’s The One’, Parson’s personal favourite. But not mine. Of all the tracks, this one is the blandest. It’s another song about unconditional love for a ‘crazy person’ but not as witty. Apparently it was inspired by Dragon’s ‘Rain’. It certainly has the structure of riffing but lacks the anthem to really get the mosh pit bouncing.
Buried in a song like ‘Bad Bad Person’ chugs along innocently, yet invites the listener to peel back the covers on a personality. Look beyond what you see on the surface, Parsons is saying. There’s more to the story, more to this man than the lazy good for nothing image you are seeing.
This short and perfectly closed album closes with the melancholiest of tunes, ‘Breathe’. Which almost doesn’t really fit with the images and musical architecture of the other tunes. Yet it’s the lusher and perfectly formed.
It was simply about the experience of falling in love, yet also allowing the whole thing to slip away. Parsons produced it in just one or two live takes – first with acoustics and vocals, and then layers of drums and what he modestly calls is “very average piano playing on top”. But it’s his full sweet, spine-tingling falsetto that really makes it. With the music and vocals this is the bands most blended performance. It’s hard to separate instruments and harmonies which all work more cohesively. Especially in the dying embers of the fade out.
At a little over 30 minutes, this is not a long drawn out sitting. Quite the opposite. It’s concise, light, refreshing. ‘Brunch’ is more enjoyable with each earful. Multiple listens will bring maximum munch. And at the risk of stretching the pun even further, it’s a witty, clever collection, with sweet and delicious melodies – definitely something worth chewing over.
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