PARADES

"Parades" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Danish post-rock act Efterklang. The album was released through The Leaf Label in October 2007. Efterklang had up until then worked in something close to DIY mode, but after struggling with recording and finishing "Parades" for nearly 18 months, the band finally decided to bring in producer/engineer Darren Allison to work with Mads Brauer (electronics, flute) on the mixing of the album. So this is an album that took almost 2 years to create and because the band got stuck in the process a couple of times, they decided to do other projects on the side. For example they also worked on the "Under Giant Trees (2007)" EP, which they released in April 2007.

The music on "Parades" is quite different from the music on the debut album "Tripper (2004)" (although the two albums do share some similarities). First of all the dry electronic beats that dominated the rhythm side of "Tripper (2004)" and which were a dominant part of the unique sound on that album, are now almost completely gone from Efterklang´s sound (which isn´t as surprising if you are familiar with the "Under Giant Trees (2007)" EP). Instead there´re lots of classical orchestral instrumentaion in the music which provide "Parades" with a more organic sound. The instrumentation is sophisticated and the arrangements are quite clever at times. The vocals are still male/female whispering type vocals. Rather monotone to my ears but the melodies does unfold a bit on repeated listens. There are also some choir sections on the album.

The sound production is professional, organic, detailed, and suits the music well. upon conclusion "Parades" is a pretty strong and very unique sounding album. I still think the band struggle a bit to come up with something catchy and memorable, but then again it´s music that´s intended for serious repeated listening sessions, rather than shallow sing along parties. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved though.