Welcome to another dimension with Parallel, the new PINHDAR album out today March 26th, 2021 on CD and all digital platforms. A limited edition on vinyl will be released on September 6th, 2021 by the English label Fruits de Mer Records.
Howie B stated that “Working with PINHDAR over the last few months has been a sonic delight. Working remotely on this project was a big challenge for both myself and the band. This remoteness has given an extra colour to this album. One that is shining“.
PINHDAR – a name inspired by the ancient Greek lyric poet Pindar, symbol of imagination and creative flights in parallel universes – are composed by singer and author Cecilia Miradoli and by musician and producer Max Tarenzi, formerly founders of the rock band Nomoredolls and of the international festival A Night Like This.
Just like further parallel lines in the direction of the same goal, PINHDAR tell us about the genesis of Parallel: “We consider this album our most authentic and painful artistic creation. Its words and atmospheres were born to save us from the dramatic events, including individual ones, that we faced during a surreal 2020. When we finished it, with a strong sense of claustrophobia still on us, we decided to fly it out, away from it all, and then put our music in the hands of one of our favorite producers. So, we tried to contact Howie B and we weren’t hoping for an answer, but the response was quick and enthusiastic. In the end, Howie B not only mixed the songs but even contributed to the production of the record with his sonic manipulations and his immense vibe“.
Parallel is the second record by PINHDAR following the eponymous debut album of 2019, well received also abroad, especially in the United Kingdom, and is the record in which the Italian duo merge dream pop and trip hop in a personal and modern way, with enveloping elegance, captivating rhythms and disturbing gloom, with new wave, shoegaze and indie rockinfluences. Miradoli and Tarenzi have taken a minimalist approach reducing their sound to what is really necessary. Large space is reserved for the vocal parts, going from melodic singing to whispers and spoken inserts, up to operatic nuances or irregular drifts that recall suggestions between Portishead and Kate Bush. The hypnotic instrumental textures are given by the use of analog synthesizers, electric and acoustic guitars, tom, floor tom and snare drum.
The eight songs in the tracklist are arranged in coherent succession to each other. From the descent into hell of the initial Anacreonte to the chiaroscuro of the first single Parallel, from the vulnerability of Glass Soul to the atypical incendiary nightmare storytelling of Corri, from the undulating restlessness of the second single Too Late (a big wave) to the desert spatial mood of Atoms And Dust (“We walk towards the future in this uncertain time without a present“), from the lulling post-ballad Hidden Wonders to the ghostly timelessness of The Hour Of Now, that gradually turns into a visionary dystopian outro.
The futuristic sci-fi artwork, developed by visual artist Elisabetta Cardella, reflects the shadowy introspection of the lyrics. “The confusion we felt during the months of lockdown, while recording the tracks, pushed us to seek refuge in a parallel reality that however turned out to be alien. This parallel reality is represented on the album cover as a house, a reassuring environment, but settled on the water, an element that appears on the contrary foreign and unstable. Parallelis a kind of dream journey through existential anxiety caused by current social and environmental conditions, dangerous for mankind and for the planet in general, and is an invitation to find alternative paths to go“.
PINHDAR, who will participate to the second edition of the Argentine NMER Festival scheduled this April, speak to us about loneliness and fears, starting with fear of death. Always with a light of hope.
