Recording artist: Efterklang
Release: Performing Parades (LP)
Notable tracks: “Frida Found a Friend,” “Polygyne”
Recommendation: Go get a physical copy, for the simultaneous DVD release
In October 2007, the Danish five-top Efterklang released Parades, their second full LP. Pitchfork described the work as “a sober, decisive grasp at grandeur,” while Stylus aptly named it “an album of moments.” It was well-composed and well-received, inviting comparisons to Sigur Ros and Sufjan Stevens. The post-rock label is unfair, as it conjures too many talented but unrelated groups: Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Explosions in the Sky. 65daysofstatic. Tone. Efterklang is much more choral and whimsical.
What does that mean? Sample the embedded clip below, for a taste of what “choral and whimsical” might sound like in a modern context:
“Caravan” live
An acquired taste? Sure. So whether you love it now or would rather wait to love it later, you would have to look hard to find anything else on your playlist quite like this. Fittingly, some readers may see the logic in following up Parades with a live version of the same eleven tracks, in the same order, with generally the same arrangement, while some may not. Either way, voilà, Performing Parades, wherein the band is accompanied by nothing less than The Danish National Chamber Orchestra. This release documents a September 2008 performance, although the show has taken on other incarnations in the meantime. One such related performance is the album-release concert in London, just a few hours from now.
First, the good news: the source material is symphonic as well as choral, and has no trouble supporting all the extra hardware. Parades is as much opera as indie rock, and the inquisitive listener will wonder how tracks like these would survive without an orchestra in the first place. (The word “space” is conspicuous in its absence when companion terms “rock” and “opera” show up, but Efterklang is no Pink Floyd retread.) “Polygyne” drinks easy, like mountain water for a trek, and yes, the track itself embarks on a march. The acclaimed and haunting “Frida Found a Friend” is given its proper space. “Cutting Ice to Snow” is fairy-tale delicate, yet big as a bulldozer. This way it most resembles a rock song: a complex, anthemic rock song. The uninitiated will need to know that very track on the album is epic in scope.
Which leads to the downsides, and frankly there are two. First, on an LP of only magisterial epics, the listener will not remember much of the individual tracks afterward. Arcade Fire’s 2004 masterpiece Funeral may be inconsistent, but there is little doubt that you can sing the opening song if you are asked to. Since Performing Parades was recorded live, the tracks are separated by applause. In this light the sound of the audience is not a gimmicky distraction, but indeed a helpful bookmark, separating each cut from the next.
At a much more basic level, though, Performing Parades suffers from an easily-diagnosed case of live album syndrome. Not only does the LP stick to in-house material, with the original arrangements still intact, it does not stray once from Parades’ track list or track sequence. An impromptu jam session would fit nicely, here, as would a clever Jane’s Addiction cover or a reworked jazz standard. To be sure, Performing Parades is a superior work to Parades, adding topography to the source album’s street map, while leaving its charm and instinctive quietness intact. But it is still a companion piece, not a stand-alone release. Those listeners for whom Efterklang is a new discovery will enjoy the unpolluted air, the frequent tempests and teapots. And those for whom Parades is already an old standby will appreciate the new take. But those in between may be left wondering.
Efterklang has a third studio album due in the first quarter of 2010. If you aren’t at least a little curious who will show up that day, you haven’t been listening.
