Parachute – Losing Sleep

I was watching MTVhits as I always do and one weekend I came across a band that you all should listen to or at least look up. If you love music as a whole then you should seriously consider getting off you lazy butt and looking up this legit band. They are different but similar to many of the popular artists now. Parachute is a combination of The Fray, Ben Folds, a touch of John Mayer and a pinch Kings of Leon. If you took The Fray’s piano parts, threw them on guitar, and added a little of a John Mayer feel to it, it would be Parachute. But if you throw the Kings of Leon’s guitar parts on piano with some pop from Ben Folds, you also get Parachute. It comes as a colossal surprise to me that these guys aren’t already huge.

Lead singer/songwriter/guitarist/ piano player Will Anderson has been playing with bassist Alex Hargrave and drummer Johnny Stubblefield since they were in high school in Charlottesville, NC. Together they began a band and started playing in shows around their town. Once in college, Will met guitarist Nate McFarland and Parachute was born. With music influences of Coldplay, Weezer, Ben Folds, The Fray, and Arcade Fire, Parachute creates their own unique and diverse kind of sound that captivates listeners all over.

Parachute makes their own extraordinary sound with two guitar harmonies that contrast an acoustic and an electric perfectly, along with a beat that gets your fingers tapping along. The down side to this album is their diversity in the topic of the songs. All of them are about love. Getting the girl. Losing the Girl. Wanting the girl. You get the point. It seems like they just sat down and wrote about past relationships and called it good. I would have liked to have heard different stories. But on the up-side, they really work their bridges into sounding more like a sweet, peaceful viola solo than a blatant bridge that seems out of place. The verses are well thought-out and well sung. The vocalist has a boy-bandesk voice and takes up about 70% of the listeners headset, which goes well to a sick jazzy feel beat and guitar chords that make you ponder how they even came up with the progression. Will Anderson really loves to go into falsetto. Maybe a little too much for my liking but if you’re into falsetto then you’re going to enjoy him.

Arguably the best song on the record, hands down, has to be “She Is Love.” Its very slow, very mellow, and very powerful. Right off the bat you’re thrown into a story about a guy who is deeply infatuated with this gorgeous girl. With Will scating on an acoustic guitar while singing you feel like your being personally serenaded.˜˜ At only 2:26, the song is short and extremely sweet. Chicks are all over this song. Guys, serenade your girl with it. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars.

The beginning of this track “All That I Am” has a serious Ben Folds feel. It is like the cement to the record. After this song, you really get the feel that these guys have true talent. The vocals are better than Madonna with falsettos that kick ass It has a jumpy build-up beat that gets you tapping your foot. With Kings of Leonesk “oh, oh’s” in the back-round the song becomes a ballad. Its a genuinely solid song. This is one of two songs on the album about heart break while the rest are about love. At the beginning of this song you expect it to be another song about a thriving relationship that couldn’t be better but in fact it’s the exact opposite. which makes it ironic as hell. With a happy music part, and a depressing sad vocals, the contrast is epic. The problem is, it seems to be a little repetitive at times and its a little long. But none the less, its a great song. 4 out of 5 stars.

There is no doubt that this is a great album. There are a few parts where i feel like they tried too hard to be indie by adding some sketchy guitar parts that sound like they are trying to be more that just Parachute. Like they are trying to be different. But i don’t want different. I want Parachute. The vocals are phenominal, and the guitarists are intriguing and overall I enjoyed listening to the album. I can’t wait to see what their next single sounds like.

Four Out of Five Stars

Photo Credit to artistsdirect.com