There’s a real ephemeral quality to The Void Above by SoCal act Random Parade. It’s the kind of release that hits harder when you’ve got the life experience that stings with laser-sharp accuracy. Even if you haven’t had your heartbroken which feels like a running theme on the EP, there’s a textural sense of nostalgia that sticks to each song as they run in very extended cycles, each nearly 5 minutes or over, and at first I thought maybe they might overstay their welcome as I feel like mastering the long-form piece can be tricky if not executed well and with a lot of preplanned thought, but the end result you feel submerged in the palpable emotions coming from a beautiful baritone voice that feels as though you can feel the drop in your heart.

WEBSITE: https://randomparade.com/

The band has a knack for incredibly memorable lines and hooks like “don’t follow me, it’s just my MERCURY in retrograde” is just brilliant especially the kind of smooth swerve he pulls with the word mercury. Across each of the four tracks, there’s an element that allows each song to stick out despite covering familiar ground from track to track. The opener “We Are Still” which sounds like a missing Richard Hawley B-side has a female backing vocal that almost sounds ghostly in its sonic presentation as the band makes the lyric “right here, we are still” have ambiguity at first presenting it as though despite the fear of a romantic relationship, if we slow down and live in this moment, we’ll be okay, Then the band breaks your heart further with the follow-up line “you’re still running from my arms.”

Sometimes there are particular elements to a record that can be hard to describe until you listen to it, akin to something like synesthesia. To me, this album feels like fall, the changing of the seasons where you and everyone around you take stock of what’s around you, and sometimes a painful change needs to be made. I can’t help but feel Random Parade may feel the same way with their evocative lyrics like “walls coming down like a crashing monsoon” and  I really need to reiterate that the hooks in these tracks are just bloody brilliant not only in their imagery but with its delivery. Production-wise, it’s pristine and memorable, from the aforementioned female backing in the opening to the eclectic synth accompaniment that’s so subtle on the track Startrails with its early 2000s-like sound, especially in the bass.

APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/mx/album/the-void-above-ep/1074089245

“My eyes so red, my soul so black” is just another example of the potent memorability each song carries. Startrails even ends with this jarring prolonged ringing that at some point even feels like the tail of a comet, pushing through a sea of scarred stars. Random Parade should feel incredibly proud of themselves for delivering such a memorable experience that I can’t recommend enough. It has a sound rooted in the past with songs covering feelings of a time now backward as we have to go painfully forward and that’s something that you’ll never be able to run away from but float across like a beautiful star trail.

John McCall