11/10/08
Text: Scott Indrisek
Miss the darkly lush synth-pop that made the late 80s and early 90s bearable? So does Cale Parks. The Brooklyn-based solo artist filters the dispassionate cool of "Enjoy the Silence"-era Depeche Mode through a 21st century filter, with plenty of electronic blips and bloops. Sparklace, out now from Polyvinyl Records, is the second solo album from Parks, who’s also the drummer for Aloha and the much-buzzed, Afropop-inspired White Williams. And it’s not all retro Anglophilia—"A Long Time In The Air" recalls Animal Collective or their Swede brethren in The Tough Alliance, and "Age of Reform" could be a Liars track with the rough edges ironed out. It’s ambient, robotic pop with a human pulse.
We also couldn’t help but notice that the solo artist is also a dapper gentleman after our own hearts. Parks is a fan of A.P.C.—he used to work at the store—plus Patrik Ervell and Burberry Prorsum. "Currently," he tell us, "I've been getting a lot of winter style influence from the two main characters in Withnail & I, and the old INXS video for 'Never Tear Us Apart.'"
