Picture Parlour dispense emotion in grand fashion on debut single, "Norwegian Wood"

A band’s first release is always a statement, and with their debut single, “Norwegian Wood,” the London-based rock band Picture Parlour are making a statement of feelings. Really big feelings.

It takes a lot of courage to borrow anything so directly from The Beatles, but this title is apposite in its application. Just like the protagonist in Lennon and McCartney’s 1965 classic of the same name —who was so hurt after his rejection that he burned down his (former) paramour’s house—the story of Picture Parlour’s “Norwegian Wood” is told from the point of view of someone whose feelings know no bounds.

“Norwegian Wood is an unvarnished confession to a loved one, inspired by Haruki Murakami’s novel ‘Norwegian Wood’ and its relationship with the infamous Beatles track. Written not long after I moved from Liverpool to London, the track coincided with a loneliness felt upon moving to the capital. The despondency that came with my life shift elicited the song: a burning inner dialogue of total transparency with oneself as well as loved ones. In a nutshell, Norwegian Wood represents how being human can feel on those dimmer days.”

That quote comes from Katherine Parlour, the vocalist of Picture Parlour who first started writing with the band’s guitarist, Ella Risi, during the pandemic. It was as a result of their recent move to London that the project expanded into a four-piece, adding bassist Sian Lynch and drummer Michael Nash.

Now with the relocation and lineup complete, Picture Parlour is entering this new era with a massive sound and massive emotions to match.

“It hurts to show/It’s not easy knowing what I know/When I’m down I’m so down/If I express myself well you wouldn’t stick around me,” sings Parlour. Her delivery features a kind of trembling vibrato that communicates her inner turmoil, but that tremoring wraps around long and stretchy croons that border on yelping territory while the band lands on spacious drums and bright, distorted cords, creating all the room she needs to share her story.

A screechy guitar flare and a snare hit keels the band back into disclosure mode (“disclosure” as in sharing truth, not the electro-pop duo) where the distortion fades away and clean guitar strums land on the top of measures serving their harmonic function as Parlour extends the range of her vocal runs to match the increasing candour of the lyrics: “I thought I’d screech in the face of death but/I went into liquidation like my businesses.”

Then the climax arrives in the same form as so many glam rock epics that have come before, a titanic guitar solo, but one that doesn’t need to rely on rapid-fire fretwork to inspire awe. Each note rings out on its own, saying everything it needs to say, just as Parlour does with each lyrical phrase, and just as she will do again many more times in the future as the journey of Picture Parlour continues.