Parhelia, Shifting Sands

Posted on 23rd Jul 09 by Paddy Murphy | 6

Following the hiatus after their last recorded output, Oceans Apart, Dublin Post-Rockers Parhelia are back with us, and thank Jesus/Allah/Buddah/Ganesh for that. Actually, thank the whole lot.

Be our guest and have a listen to the title track Shifting Sands while reading the review.

Shifting Sands[audio:http://www.drop-d.ie/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/shifting-sands.mp3]

Northern Post-Rockers And So I Watch You From Afar might grab most of the headlines, deservedly so, and God Is An Astronaut are well and truly adored across the globe, yet most Paddies on the street have never even heard of them, although that’s a subject for another date. Parhelia, though are on their third release to date and seem like the kind of band that just want to keep their collective heads down and write some fantastic earth shattering music.

Comparing one Post-Rock band to another is a difficult thing. It’s not like comparing Oasis to Blur, or Elbow to Coldplay: they all play the same type of indie rock and roll. Comparing Post-Rock with Post-Rock, however, is like trying to compare N.W.A or Run DMC with Captain Moonlight (C.M). They’re all fantastic groups, although C.M is a soloist, but their style, music, content and delivery are all completely different. That’s what makes them great in the first place.

So throw down the shackles of always trying to compare Irish to Irish and let the record live and breathe on its own. This sounds nothing like any other Irish Post-Rock band

So throw down the shackles of always trying to compare Irish to Irish and let the record live and breathe on its own. This sounds nothing like any other Irish Post-Rock band. In fact, it owes far more to the likes of Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You, Pelican and Mogwai than anything else.

Well, of course it sounds a bit like Mogwai. They’ve done everything. It’s a bit like that South Park episode where Professor Chaos (Butters) keeps trying to come up with dastardly plans, but his faithful sidekick General Disarray (Dougie) keeps butting in to say “Simpsons did it“. Mogwai are one of the few bands that most other Post Rockers can actually be compared to.

The only bad thing about the EP is that it’s so fucking short, although, to be fair, for your €10 you get six tracks clocking in at just over thirty four minutes. Alternatively, you could buy it for only €5.94, if you went for the digital option.

Opener Our Ship Has Sailed begins with a riff not a million miles away from Temple of a Dog’s Hunger Strike, not a bad thing in any way. The song proceeds to become a meandering desert rock style lament. I challenge anyone who buys this record (in its physical format) to listen intently to this tune while staring at the cover art, and if you don’t wander off to the salt plains captured on the cover then you need another toke my friend.

When it all fades into nothingness Parhelia pull off the biggest triumph of the record…..

I won’t go through this track by track because it would be better for you to discover all the intricities and nooks and hooks of this record by yourself. I will say though, that the the title track Shifting Sands is something that the Texan bands mentioned above, upon hearing it, will have them wishing to their stars they’d written it first.

It has everything that Explosions in the Sky and This Will Destroy You pour into their respected records, yet our Dublin boys, Parhelia, have done it sublimely in only five minutes and sixteen seconds.

The final track Time & Tide builds slowly into a washful cresendo of wonderfully constructed choas and noise, and when it all fades into nothingness. Parhelia pull off the biggest triumph of the record: they leave you wanting more.

Drop-d Rating 9/10

Parhelia Site

Parhelia Myspace

Tags: And So I Watch You From Afar, blur, Captain Moonlight, Coldplay, elbow, Explosions in the Sky, god is an astronaut, Irish Post-Rock, mogwai, N.W.A, oasis, Oceans Apart, Parhelia, pelican, run dmc, Shifting Sands, South Park, Temple of a Dog, This Will Destroy You