Parcels - A shipload of disco-pop

Connecting the nature and sunshine of their native Australia, the France of Daft Punk and the dance-hungry spirit of Berlin at its wildest, Parcels have created a nu-disco formula that ranges across a host of genres and musical eras without knowing any limits or fears.

In an age devoted to short-lived phenomena and dictated by the lightning-fast logic of streaming, despite their strongly trendy image, this five-piece represents a stoic, determined anomaly that steers clear of market logic. Parcels are strikingly "cover-worthy" pin-ups, and their vaguely ambiguous aesthetic couldn't be more of the moment. Yet for them, only the music seems to matter. Hence they waited four years between forming and releasing their debut album, and then another three before their sophomore effort — no less than a concept album, and a double one at that, practically suicidal for a pop act in an age of disposable music.

On the sun-drenched cover of their debut album, Parcels are dressed up as an airline crew: two mustachioed, buttoned-up pilots and three tousled, very blond baggage handlers in powder-blue overalls, busy loading the last suitcases. All five are distracted by a female figure out of shot. A fun, colourful shot that says a lot about the playful, breezy attitude of these five young Aussies, but also about the long journey that brought them to their delightful debut for Kitsuné.

Patrick, Noah, Jules, Louie and Anatole all went to school together in Byron Bay, Australia, which they left behind, all at once and very early, to try their luck in dance music in Berlin, a city of artists and freedom, the ideal capital of techno.

From Berlin to Paris is then but a short step, especially with a sound like that of these Australians, which oozes Frenchness from every beat. First came a deal with a keenly interested label like Kitsuné, then, right after their debut EP, the attention of none other than Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo. With a single produced by Daft Punk (the sparkling "Overnight"), a frightening amount of hype inevitably followed. The Australians faced it with courage, though, and a fair dose of nerve — enough to leave that very single off the tracklist of their debut album.

So what's inside these parcels that travelled so far before reaching our homes and our speakers? Certainly a hefty dose of funk-pop, its angular yet fluid rhythms set by the hiccupping guitar of Jules Crommelin, a man who surely has a Chic poster on his bedroom wall — but also much more, as the sparkling 2018 Parcels demonstrates.

Patrick Hetherington and Louie Swain are the "most French" members of the group, so much so that they seem to have studied every millimetre of the soft synth interplay of "Moon Safari", whose shadow looms large over the sprawling "Everyroad". A suite with an almost prog-like evolution that pushes the quintet's funk skyward, propelled by an insistent house piano and angelic choruses.

The album's less dancefloor-oriented tracks, on the other hand, belong to the most sophisticated brand of radio pop, bringing to mind names on the order of Steely Dan or, staying in France and in the present day, Phoenix. Sweet, vaguely melancholy songs like "Whitorwithout" and "Bemyself", sung by Jules Crommelin in his warm voice, recall not only the sound of the Versailles band but also the velvety timbre of Thomas Mars.

The quintet, however, couldn't help but pack a few souvenirs from their native Australia into this colourful debut, represented by the ever-present salty tang that lingers among the notes of the keyboards, always soft, as if smoothed by the tide. There's a marine breeze too in the thoroughly pleasant flute flourishes, a true trademark of the band, rippling through the closing moments of "Lightenup" and "Tape".

The pleasant, inviting atmosphere of Parcels lies entirely in the chemistry these wanderers manage to create between naturally discordant elements: the dancefloors of the '70s, those of a few years ago, the elegant electronics of the turn of the millennium, the melancholy of sunsets over the sea at summer's end. It's a sugary spell that runs through the whole record, but one that can also live through single moments. The aforementioned "Lightenup" or "Tieduprightnow", for instance, are two bombs that, played on the radio at just the right moment, can change the course of an evening, or an entire summer.

Now firmly settled in Berlin, in 2020 Parcels recorded their first official live album, simply titled Live Vol. 1, a title that raises hopes it's merely the first chapter in a rich series. If on record the Australians sound surgical and incapable of a single slip, live they retain that same precision, but also a palpable euphoria, not shying away from freewheeling jams steeped in the most primal groove.

For the occasion, the five got to enjoy the warmth and historic aura of the city's most famous recording studios, the legendary Hansa Tonstudio. The entire recording session, which includes numerous tracks from the band's debut album as well as a few earlier singles, is also available in video form and can be found in its entirety on YouTube. Needless to say, given the band's great visual presence on stage, that's the best way to experience the album.

Parcels' self-titled debut had been one of the most delightful surprises of 2018. A nu-disco album as sophisticated as it was enjoyable, as well-played as it was playful. Formally impeccable, yet never self-serious. A breath of fresh air blowing from their native Byron Bay (Australia) to dance-happy Berlin, via the Paris of the Kitsuné label.

The Australians have lived up to the expectations raised by those premises without a hint of fear, doubling down on their ambitions instead. What we have here is an imposing sophomore effort, double not only in title and length but also in intent. With one side devoted to day and one to night (hence the album's title, Day/Night), both lyrically dedicated to exploring duality. What we keep inside versus what we let show, who we are versus how we're perceived, and so on.

The stylistic leap from Parcels is considerable. The band retains its knack for brisk, buoyant melodies driven by disco guitars and recalcitrant bass, but the tones are more solemn, elegant, at times even dark. In place of the keyboards that intoxicated the first record, we now find a powerful, clearly foregrounded piano (the instrument's role in "Nerveloved" is incredible). Owen Pallett's string contributions prove invaluable in stitching the tracks together, providing elegant interludes and lending cinematic scope to many of the tracklist's rich episodes.

The common thread linking the two albums is a new, devastating single called "Somethinggreater". A groovy, hummable track, yet also streaked with melancholy tones and deliberately stirring. For the rest, we hear a renewed band, aware of its own strengths and occasionally (though never enough to undermine the album's success) a touch stiff.

The record's slow-burning opener is a highly cinematic "LIGHT", which could serve as the perfect soundtrack for a film set in the glittering discotheques and exaggerated deep-collared shirts of the 1970s. Pallett's strings warm up the atmosphere, while Crommelin's guitar is coy, sensual in its languid flourishes. The rhythm section stays in the background, yet still worms its way into your hips. What follows is a joyful, fluttering "Free", with celestial vocal harmonies made to be whistled along to while skipping through the yellow, falling leaves of this autumn and so many others.

Although it packs most of its upbeat moments into the first half, Day/Night also holds a danceable "landmine" in its second half: the unleashed "LordHenry" takes charge, with Noah Hill's bass pounding away between one catchy little chorus and the next. For the rest, the second side is dark and deliberately nocturnal, dominated by "Thefear", awash in neon synths and dramatic strings, and by the subdued, folk-flavored "Once".

Still very young, the five Australians arrived with a thrilling, immediate debut. With this Day/Night, they instead attempted something more restrained, also shaped by the tragedies of Covid and the wildfires back home. A record that not only confirms everything we could have hoped for, and how well these guys have handled success, but also opens up a world of possibilities for their future.

It's been a few years now since the Australians Parcels made Berlin their city. They now live there full-time, have made plenty of friends, and it's not unusual to run into them around the city's various venues, or even in some little pub in Schöneberg. At this point, the German capital, with its DNA steeped in club culture, could hardly fail to exert a strong influence on their music.

And so, already during the triumphant tour that followed the release of the beautiful Day / Night, the nu-disco quintet from Byron Bay began cranking up the beats, thinning out the vocal parts, and letting themselves go into long dance excursions, often verging on full-on jam sessions.

But when these lengthy instrumental passages started to take over the rest, especially in front of large crowds, the results began to divide audiences. While a good portion of the crowd was happy to be swept away by the tumultuous jams built on funky little guitars, disco accents and refined electronic layers worthy of the French touch (let's not forget that Parcels were "baptized" by a Daft Punk production), another portion missed the sing-at-the-top-of-your-lungs choruses and more fully-formed songs.

Live Vol. 2, sequel to the more conventional (soon you'll understand why) Live Vol. 1 from 2020, was therefore born out of an experiment. Tired of having to strike fair compromises with the audience, however understandable and understood by the fans themselves, Parcels rented out the small Parisian club Le Palace and played there in disguise in front of an unsuspecting crowd.

Across nearly two hours of music, tracks like "Iknowhowifeel", "Lightenup", "Gamesofluck" and "Lightenup" — true classics for anyone who's followed the band since its early days and the nu-disco scene at large — are torn to shreds. Their choruses are repeated once, maybe twice at most, within dance-floor freight trains powered by Noah Hill's pulsing bass and the razor-precise drumming of Anatole Serrett, aka Toto, as their inexhaustible fuel. Even the shimmering keyboards of Patrick Harrington and Louie Swain seem looser than usual, as when they take off into the weightless stratosphere of Air on "Reflex".

Of course, on record, a transformation of the songs as sweeping as the one Parcels pull off on Live Vol. 2 can't work, and couldn't possibly work, the way it must have for the lucky few present at Le Palace. Still, it manages to be hypnotic for long stretches and stokes curiosity about the future recording direction of a band that genuinely seems on the verge of a radical turn.

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