Rose Parade have been described as an indie folk band and while some may be comfortable with that I think it's a bit of a lazy tag that is being attributed to any band that wants to explore music through using more traditional means.
Pick up a banjo and you're a folk band, reinterpret Robert Burns and you most definitely are a folk band.
Or are you?
More often than not I would expect that bands like Rose Parade, and artists of that ilk, are muttering under their collective breaths 'folk off', whenever the dreaded folk word is mentioned, and then they go back to doing what they do best and that's simply creating music, and in the case of Rose Parade what wonderful music that is.
I've still to pick up a copy of their début single 'Grace', but over the past few weeks I've been gathering tracks here and there on the internet that the band have put up for download and so far I've not heard them put a foot wrong.
They sound free from constraints in how they bring a song to life.
I get the impression that when they hear a song in their head then that's what they want others to hear, and if in bringing that to the public means that a banjo or a glockenspiel is required then that's what is going to happen.
There's no real dilution of each individual song to make it fit into a genre.
Damn I'm really going to have to pick up 'Grace' sooner rather than later.
The whole labelling something folk or country just because it has a banjo in it definitely is a bit lazy, labels are a bit restrictive really, regardless of genre I can say Rose Parade are a band who make creative, expressive and typically feel good music although I'd say there is definitely sometimes a contrast in the positivity of the music with some dark and brooding lyrics, which I like very much! They're an interesting band who are passionate about what they do and many people I have met in Ayrshire are fans of them from all across the board of ages and music fans. I like them very much and the Grace EP is a cracker! Oh aye and anyone who can play a bass drum, guitar, sing and play the moothy at the same time is someone special indeed! Little Fire
ReplyDeleteWell I finally got to see them last night, and pick up Grace.
ReplyDeleteCertainly lived up to expectations, and maybe even surpassed them.
I like balance in music.
How things fit together.
Especially when on paper it may not seem like it will.
The electric guitar last night was like that.
There's an aspect of it that shouldn't work within the framework of what they do, but it does.