In the summer of 2008 I was invited to sit in on Parades' recording sessions to explain them better than they could ever explain themselves. For the uninitiated, the band walks into an FBi open day with demo in hand, goes onto receive high rotation there as well as a Triple J debut on Richard Kingsmill's 2008 show and a handful of plays on Home and Hosed. Somewhere inbetween they pulled the main support for Malcolm Middleton in just their third show, Jebediah in their eighth and an NYE slot on the annual Peats Ridge Festival. Since their first show in April '08 they've been given heady comparison's to Explosions in the Sky, Radiohead, Fugazi, The Postal Service and Sigur Ros. With a mere demo allowing them to reach such levels of success, one would be excited at the prospects of Paradesí soon to be released debut. I was quite surprised when they asked me to sit in on their new sessions (having been fans of a music blog I wrote some years earlier). I was even more surprised that, like their demos, the band had chosen to record and produce the their work in their home studio. After little time however, it is clear that their work would be marred and tainted by anyone else producing these songs, because in doing it themselves their music is allowed to be created and nurtured without any deadline or distraction, pressure or preconception. Their work space is truly an abomination - the walls adorned with crude makeshift soundproofing, equipment scattered in every corner. Apparently, it is only ever cleaned when walking is impossible or something has gone missing. They seemingly dream of their music as they come in day after day with an endless stream of ideas, disagreances and improvements. For an outsider, the recording process an intensely long and tedious process. The end results however, will speak sheer volumes. It is this commitment and the hours of editing and experimenting that shows the ridiculous amount of thought behind their new songs, and puts their writing above the vast majority of bands they have been grouped with in Sydney. If this is what they can achieve by themselves at home, I marvel to think what would be possible if they were let loose in an expensive and well equipped facility Even without saying it themselves, it is clear that this is a group of young individuals aching to be considered alongside exceptional bands rather than indie or new wave revivalist ones. Someone once said, that if a band is not playing at the edge of their abilities at all times, they should be playing something else...Or something to that effect. Having said that, Parades will release their debut in Autumn 2009. Let's see where this goes. Thom Hathaway (2009)