Mice Parade: Candela

    This one slipped through the cracks in the midst of my busy winter/spring, releasing on January 29, 2013 was Mice Parade's ninth album, Candela. I love Mice Parade's eclectic mix of flamenco, post-rock and laptronica (no, that isn't just laptop produced electronica, it's the use of laptop in a live setting as a multi-instrumental electroacoustic instrument...go read more here). Throw in some afrobeat, shoe-gaze, ambience and synth pop and you've gotten only a little closer to what Mice Parade is all about. Brooklyn group led by Mice Parade anagram Adam Pierce is intricate and enjoyable to listen to. The male (Adam Pierce?) and female (Caroline Lufkin, who has been around for this and the previous album, What it Means to be Left Handed) vocals are mellow and understated against the busier drums, vibraphone and strumming guitars.
    Candela starts off with a definite intro song, with somewhat distant, ambient, but noisy tremolo chords (constantly strummed), that shift back and forth. That transitions into a more electronic sounding song that is quickly interrupted by busily pounded drums and a distorted guitar. Juxtapose Caroline's voice against all this and you've got the nature of the second track, "Currents". The entire album is expansive and continues that trend of distant sounding ambient backgrounds, while the drums often seem the center piece, without covering the lighter vocals. The flamenco traits that Adam Pierce's songs often possess is much more understated than previous albums. It would be the equivalent to post-flamenco-rock if there was such a genre. Some of the tracks that is more overtly flamenco would be "Pretending" and "Candela", the latter of which brings back the vibraphone that is more often absent than not on this album. Mice Parade travels further than South America in Candela, bringing in influences from the orient in the song "The Chill House", which has a traditional sounding Chinese instrument plucking slow arpeggiated chords using a pentatonic scale (five note scales). It's almost like listening to a combination of Mice Parade and Gold Panda. And it could not be more chill. The song is a gem. Another foray into new territory is "Look See Dream Me", which contains an old school hip hop style and makes me think of Samurai Shamploo or Cowboy Bebop because of how it mixes genres and does it well. The next track, "Las Gentes Interesantes", has a fun Latino section at the end of the song, with trumpet blaring and piano rocking out. Eclecticism is the order of the day. Continuing on, "Contessa" has flairs of fusion jazz and the jazz organ sound is welcome. Candela finishes off with "Warm Hand in Narnia", which goes back and forth between very mellow and noise-rocked out garage band.
    The whole listening experience is a journey, I hope you take time to listen to at least "The Chill House", which I have over under the 'Monthly Sample Tracks'. Or check out the entire studio effort on Spotify. Enjoy!