Parastatic played at The Sebright Arms, an East London venue which is one of my top ‘most welcoming’ pubs in London. The Tyneside outfit Parastatic, a band who came to my attention via Radio 6 Music, when I just happened to catch the tail-end of a track which delivered an utterly euphoric guitar riff. I felt a ‘here’s a new addiction’ moment coming on. What is this, who are they, and when are they playing??
That track I later discovered to be called St Mary, from the band’s latest album out March 2015, Recall Fade Return. The Sebright Arms’ basement venue has a healthy turnout for the band.
Parastatic guitarists Neil Caffery and Jon Garrard create a good connection with the crowd. The band members have good synergy too, the guitarists taking their place on either side of drummer Rachel Casey, who makes the most of the limited range of expression that being behind a drum kit will allow with some dramatic flourishes. It’s also good to see the three of them smiling and looking like they are enjoying themselves up there on stage.
The band’s sound is that of a dense synth sludge of noise, on which a driving beat coalesces, with layers added on the top which dance and shimmer and create a euphoric quality. Vocals are woven into the fabric of the music. Parastatic know how to create vast soundscapes, wide open spaces which can in a flash screw you up into a ball of tension, before unravelling you again. Particularly effective are I Am the One and the wonderful St Mary – they wrap with Breaking me Down.
I’ve listened to Parastatic’s first album from 2012, Lost Highway, and it feels more vocally driven, with a distinctly prog touch – Breaking me Down reminds me of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, only without veering into proggy self indulgence. (Curiously, listening to Angel Sigh, the intro has the same feel as Under the Pressure on The War on Drugs’ more recent 2014 Lost in the Dream). Parastatic’s new album Recall Fade Return is a far more cohesive and confident body of work and carries forward that distinctly Krautrock influence – Neu!‘s Hallogallo is a distinct influence on St Mary.
A later number, T.R.E.M. is a nervy, restless track which could have a scary tale to tell, laden as it is with echoey synth which builds and gathers pace.
Recall Fade Return is an album which deserves to be heard (and danced to), so here’s hoping that Parastatic get the airplay and exposure they deserve. Our ears and souls will be all the better for it.
All photography: Daniela Fleckenstein; www.fleckensteinphotography.com Goodsoul Promotions; goodsoul@live.co.uk
THE SMALL PRINT
WHO: In Violet, Parastatic, Kontakte
WHEN: March 30, 2015 WHERE: The Sebright Arms, London 