By Emily Smith, Arts and Entertainment Editor
New York City’s ‘Parlour Tricks’ performed a much anticipated show at Trinity United Methodist Church March 7 as part of the Savannah Stopover music festival.
Their sound has been described as pretty and gritty, but it is near impossible to label them with a specific genre. “We’re like a hybrid. We’re having fun and broadening our pallet,” singer Morgane Hollowell said. Choir-like harmonies mixed with thundering bass, clean guitar and danceable beats explain why Spotify has called their sound Vintage pop for the future.
Gaining inspiration from whatever sparks an idea whether it be books and stories or their own reality, heartbreak and love, it is no wonder that Parlour Tricks has gained such a vast audience. They have certainly grown since their start in 2011, having played major gigs this past year booking performances at Bonnaroo, Summerfest, and South By Southwest.
With their growing popularity, their sound has also grown. “Requiem and Lovesongs are both written on departure into sort of this brand new sound, this sort of second life,” Hollowell said. “To everyone else, it’s our renaissance, our reinvention.”
For a large group consisting of six members, one would think that communication is the biggest struggle. But singer, Dee Dee Goluv says, “We are so phenomenally good at it. It’s not common, but somehow we’re just lucky in that way.”
Hollowell describes the band as as a family in a sense. “We’re such a little family and I think we play into those roles,” she said. “Terry is the dad, Dee Dee and Angelo are kind of like twins that are a little kookie, and Brian is like the schmuzer who goes out all the time and I’m kind of like the mom.”
She further explained that these roles somewhat translate into their work with everyone bringing different ideas to the band. It is refreshing to see a group with a genuine love for not only their art as individuals but also the love that they have for one another. “Love each other. First things first is your relationship with the band because it doesn’t work without it. You have to take care of that more than anything else,” Guitarist Angelo Spagnolo said.
“Angelo always brings this insane creativity to anything, he’ll never play the same thing twice. You see him onstage and he’s playing his guitar with a paintbrush. It’s constantly surprising for us,” Hollowell said.
This band has also mastered seeing struggles as mere bumps in the road and don’t seem to have too many complaints. Goluv explained that it has taken plenty of time for them to get where they are now, but that it wasn’t a struggle and just took patience. “We had one path that we thought we were going down and then that didn’t end up. So that’s not a struggle, it’s a hurdle,” she said. “That’s part of the way you’re going to get anywhere.”
Two of the tracks they created together, “Requiem” and “Lovesongs”, were released as singles in 2014. They are excited about their upcoming album that is to be released June 23, 2015.
