Various Artists – ‘Parallelogram’ (2015)
While most albums or compilations depend on, and draw from their artists similarities, ‘Parallelogram’ makes more use, and gets more milage out of the tension and juxtaposition these artists create among themselves.
If you consider all the aspects of music that could stand in sharp contrast to others, you’re gonna find ‘em all right here … and I assure you, it’s been designed to be just that way. You’re going to hear original material locked in discourse with covers, you’re going to find tracks that are less than two minutes in length, and others that are over twenty, you’re going to find familiar almost folky songs that get smacked up against static and feedback, while other artists seem bound and almost determined to implode and destroy their contributions.
So … the question I had, when looking through and listening to this collection was “Why?” I soon realized that for the first time that the process wasn’t about the artists, it was about the production, and what those creating this outing were trying to bring to the world. Without a doubt there are dots and connections that I’m not making, visions that I’m not seeing, thematic views I’m not understanding, and a direction that I can’t seem to travel. However, all that being said, I’m hoping that at some point in the future this limited edition is going to click and make sense to me, giving me one of those ah-ha moments of satisfaction as the pieces of the puzzle fall gracefully into place. Though for now, I’m standing on the side of the road with cars whizzing by, cars in the nature of songs that have knocked me back down, but I tell you true, I’m gonna make it to the other side, and when I do, I’ll send back a message, letting you know what I find.
Jenell Kesler
Various Artists – ‘Parallelogram’ (Three Lobed Recordings, 2015)
