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Review by Todd Simmons
Skyscraper Crow
Anders Parker
Bladen County Records
Release Date: September 8th, 2009
An eccentric musician, Anders Parker continually changes his physical whereabouts, and his sonic landscapes are usually not far behind. His most recent forays living in New York City and now Burlington, VT have poured out a new double album named Skyscraper Crow. The (Crow) part of the album focuses on dusty-tinged folk ballads and melancholia, while (Skyscraper) is digital pop in some sort of weird airport lounge at sunset.
The contrast between the two albums is abrupt and harsh, almost disrupting both. I can get past that, for (Crow) alone is worth the price of the album. With the most beautiful song ever written about Canada, and a sort of wandering bliss from start to finish, it’s delicate and sturdy like a good, old shoe. If Crow were a good shoe, then, Skyscraper would be like wearing a day-glow body suit while wandering alone in some desolate city, which, in this case, actually sounds quite nice. Both albums are gently overrun with images of trips taken, loves lost, horses and people running, lots of people commenting on other people from afar, and all with some sort of tragic, Pagan-esque undertones. The Earth is mightier than the sword, or even the guitar. Fleeting and triumphant, Skyscraper Crow takes you all over the map emotionally, and, if you’re not nimble, has the potential to leave you somewhere you might not want to be stranded. Anders Parker continues to strum his guitars and play his computer in different locales, nearly always finding something poignant wherever he is in the wind-swept world.
72nd St. Horses Mp3 (from Crow)
Calling Out To You Mp3 (from Skyscraper)
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