Smelly Elements

Prompt: B+
Write about what you did last weekend as though you’re a music critic reviewing a new album.

Album Review: Park’s, “Walk In The“

While Park seems to have been around forever, the band manages to reinvent itself and keep die-hard fans gasping for more, even if, as in this latest album, Walk In The, we are hearing creative patterns that we think we have heard before. But have we?

Anticipation starts to build with the first track, Crazy Dog, where fresh, dynamic licks propel the track forward, and actual licks transcend the audio experience. Chance*, the theme thread that ties the album together, makes a first appearance, with restless impatience.

Put on your headphones for the middle section of Park, when guest musicians dominate, in sometimes harmonious, sometimes cacophonous arrangements that stretch expectations. Max, Joy, Twiglet, Lily, Charlie, Mackenzie and other guest vocalists contribute an immediacy that is at once challenging and satisfying, if unpredictable.

The one downside was the introduction of Jazz* to the concept album. These undisciplined ramblings added nothing to this critic’s listening experience.

Not many albums are perfect, and this one suffered from downright smelly elements, which fortunately, were quickly cleaned up and disposed of.

As a reinvention of previous expeditions, Park works, as they mesh their traditional oeuvre with new, down-and-dirty perspectives, fresh audio air, some primitive animal harmony, while stretching creative muscles and building social ties with other Park enthusiasts.

*Chance: good dog
*Jazz: bad dog