Montreal's James Parm releases enigmatic new “downer pop-rock” track "1 M"
James Parm eschews his indie rock roots in favour of a more downtempo, jazz-tinged soundscape on his epic single "1 M", which drops this week along with his debut solo album Oh My Darling.
James Parm has undoubtedly produced one of his most enigmatic tracks. Sounding a bit like Thom York warbling over an early 90s hip hop beat, "1 M" bops along at a hypnotising clip, aided by heavenly piano arpeggio and perfectly placed vibraphone.
"I'm a dying star in a landfill / In a factory lot I remain still," Parm sings, setting the psychedelic, dystopian tone before driving the instrumental through an audio shredder. There are several interesting risks taken from that point: he brings the entire track to a halt after several waves of dissonance distort the beautiful melody.
A long, hushed lull passes before Parm hops back on, with the beat now hammering in double-time, riding the weirdly catchy bridge like a madman atop a locomotive, hellbent that his wild musical tangent will somehow resolve itself.
Parm exhibits a huge amount of potential here and we look forward to hearing him excavate this trippy musical vein further.
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