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Parc Department release new single, 'Forced Perspective'

Parc Department band
courtesy of the artist
Parc Department began as the solo project of Colin Morris and has grown into a full band.

Beginning as a pandemic project of Colin Morris, Parc Department is now a fully fledged band with a new single, "Forced Perspective," and more music on the way. Kaleidoscope host Juliet Fromholt spoke with Morris about the new release and the origins of the band.

Juliet Fromholt (JF): I read that Parc Department, the genesis story here, is that you issued yourself a challenge during the pandemic?

Colin Morris (CM): Well, I mean, everybody seems to have had a pandemic project in the deepest, darkest valleys of lockdowns. And I didn't have one, but I didn't have to look very far because I'm a musician. So somewhere I'd been thinking for a while about making some instrumental music, which hadn't been my my practice up to this point. And then I just decided, like, it would be cool to see what I could do with a time constraint. Could I make an EP in a weekend? And my wife jumped on me like, 'You should absolutely do this. I will support you in this completely. Like I will spend the weekend, you know, with the kids and you just go for it,' which is awesome and really the only reason it was possible.

But I love working with within creative restraints. It's why I like pop music. It's why I like, you know, simple, straightforward music. I like what people do when they're working with intentionally little. And it's one of my favorite things I've ever made. It was just absolute joy, the whole process. And I didn't have time to obsess over it forever and just fiddle with the mix endlessly. I mean, if I had had unlimited time, I'd still be working on it. But here we are listening to it and talking about it.

JF: Now you said that instrumental music specifically was new to you as a songwriter. What was that like making that transition? Because it's a different style of writing for a lot of folks to not have those lyrics to rely on. How did you tackle that or start to think about it?

CM: You know, instrumentals have always been probably my favorite part of the process. Really only in the last few years that I've gotten any real confidence with lyrics and kind of found my voice, so to speak. So I've enjoyed instrumental music since I was a little kid, and one of my favorite instrumental acts is actually one hear on NPR a lot, like between stories on news programs, Tycho. [His music] is so lyrical in its melodies, you know, whether it's the synthesizers or the guitars, even the bass, which is my favorite instrument to write and record on. So it was actually very freeing because the lyrics steal the show for so many listeners and to be able to remove that actually allowed me to create space for the other instruments to really step forward and speak and have their moment and shine, not just for the super active musician listeners in the room, but like for everybody. There's something to kind of latch on to in each song, I think instrumentally, and it's kind of nice not having lyrics get in the way.

JF: Did you find that it was more freeing as well in the type of storytelling you were able to do? Because there are stories and moods throughout this EP, and certainly as listeners, we all bring kind of our own story to something as well. But without having actual lyrics, there's a lot of lyricism in the music. What was that like, being able to sort of soundscape those stories?

CM: Yeah, I love how you put that, that that people can kind of bring their own interpretation to it. I mean, certainly that's that's true of any art. But I think I don't know how conscious I was of this at the time, but I definitely feel strongly now that instrumental music, I think, is the music really that's brought me the most comfort and has been the most like stable soundscape. The past few years, you know, it's not somebody's lyrics that that I love, I love music with vocals, but it's not somebody's lyrics that I take refuge in. It's instrumental music usually that imprints on my life and on to which I can imprint. And I think I like that about Parc Department that it can be for people what they need it to be in, in whatever moment. And even like in some of our bios in places I've said like Parc Department's, music is for, you know, going nowhere in your city or in quiet moments in between. It's music for your tour van. It's whatever you need it to be. And it's not explicit.

JF: Have you had an opportunity yet to do much playing either in front of an audience or just in person with your band? Because I know with pandemic projects, I've talked to a lot of people that were collaborating virtually. And sometimes them coming to the studio is, you know, one of the first times that they've been all in the room together.

CM: Yeah, it's has been a trip. It's easier for some people than others to understate, you know, what the last two years have been. But, yes, we were collaborating virtually, which is something that a friend and I had been doing for years. Incidentally, since pre-COVID, we just we used the same software and we, you know, sometimes we record in his basement studio and sometimes I'm just doing stuff at home, sending him stems, and it's easier than going across town. And so that served us very well when it was time to collaborate and I was, you know, in a different state. We are a multi-state band, and some of us are in Chicago and I'm here and the drummer lives in Columbus. And so when we get together in Chicago to rehearse, it's like, you know, every month or two. And we had all been working on our parts individually and I'd been assembling this band. And the first time we rehearse was the first time that everyone in the room was meeting, like they only knew me. And that was pretty cool energy. Like, everyone hit it off pretty well right away and it's been really fun to watch that happen. I feel like an evil puppet master, like setting up three grown men on a blind date every band practice.

JF: That first time that you guys all got in the same room together and played these songs, did you hear them differently?

CM: Yeah, it was electrifying. I mean, I like the way this music sounds, but, I mean, let's let's be real here, this happened on a laptop. I don't want to ruin the magic for anyone but this was created inside a computer. So to have it in a room and to hear the instruments through the air, there's still a lot of electronic and digital components in how we play it. But even when it was really rough at the beginning, it was crazy to me. It was crazy that something that I had made entirely on my own, like to see other people...I was really touched that they had even bothered to, you know, take the time to work so hard at learning all these parts and that they had committed themselves so fully to it, and that it was the hearing it out loud was like, Yeah, it blew my mind.

JF: You've got a new song, you've got more new new stuff coming. The new stuff that you're getting ready to release, I assume was written subsequently after that first batch of songs. Having gone through that short time constrained amount of time and then getting to work out these songs with your collaborators, what did you change or adapt or evolve about your process as you began to write this next batch?

CM: It's really like the batch after that I'm most excited for. I feel good about these songs. But the reason I say that is that I never really stopped writing when I finished the first EP in June of 2020. So a lot of the newer material that we're working on now, what I've done is I've sort of like peeled back some of the layers once we formed the band, and I was like, 'okay, well I've done another EP on my own, but I just can't wait for you guys to get on it.' So to the extent possible, I was like, 'Well, what if we just get rid of my guitar part and bring you in and like, you know, would you want to rewrite this or and have Josh there? 'The other musician I was talking about earlier, the original collaborator, like, 'What could you add to this song now? Let's extrapolate what we did on the first one.' Because I just couldn't wait for it to stop being a solo project and for it to be really the product of a real band. So the second EP is this kind of funny hybrid. But now we're also at the same time like demoing ideas for our first truly full collaboration on a full length record that I can't wait to get into.

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Juliet Fromholt is proud to be music director at 91.3FM WYSO. Juliet began volunteering at WYSO while working at WWSU, the student station at her alma mater, Wright State University. After joining WYSO's staff in 2009, Juliet developed WYSO’s digital and social media strategy until moving into the music director role in 2021. An avid music fan and former record store employee, Juliet continues to host her two music shows, Alpha Rhythms and Kaleidoscope, which features studio performances from local musicians every week. She also co-hosts Attack of the Final Girls, a horror film review podcast.