Parenthetical Girls

Privilege, Pt. 1: On Death & Endearments (Slender Means Society)

By Kirsten Kilponen
Published: March 22nd, 2010 | 1:00pm

It’s obvious that the Parenthetical Girls are always shifting and expanding musically—for them, creating isn’t desirable if it doesn’t involve growth or transition. Their latest album, Privilege, Pt. 1: On Death & Endearments, embodies a mélange of musical instruments and influences, and is the first installment of a five-part series that will eventually comprise the full album Privilege. Even though Pt. 1 features only four songs, the multi-instrumentalist Rachael Jensen creates a musical overflow. The opening track, “Evelyn McHale,” presents tambourines, an easy drumbeat, and free-spirited acoustic guitar to create what sounds like an electric, intergalactic orchestra.

Although the songs sound robust and well composed, it’s the intricacies that make you wonder the possibilities of what the song could’ve been had it gone in another direction, a facet that many musicians cannot achieve. Amongst the charming, musical mess is the wonderfully androgynous lead singer, Zac Pennington, and his voice (as shaky as it is) which remains the constant, unifying sound amongst the group’s previous, current, and future work. The heartfelt lyrics equally compliment Pennington’s voice which makes it sound like he can musically sheds tears.

The Parenthetical Girls’ Pt. 1 is definitely a tease, to which the rest of Privilege will hopefully deliver. The album gets points off only for its patronage to blood fetishism, as each album is hand-numbered in Pennington’s blood, which is an unnecessary attention grabber.

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